The U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote next week on H.R. 5408, the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), which would impose mandatory arbitration on the private sector and allow the federal government to mandate terms of contracts between unions and companies. Argentum opposes the bill with a broad group of with businesses and organizations.
Under the FLCA, after a union organizing campaign, the parties would have less than 150 days to reach a first contract. If no agreement is reached, a government-appointed arbitrator would dictate the terms, to include overriding private-sector labor negotiations and imposing contract terms on workplaces. We strongly believe that the FLCA does not protect workers, but silences them and would force an unelected government-appointed bureaucrat to set wages, benefits, workplace safety standards, and pensions, without a vote by workers, no consent from the employer, and no meaningful judicial review.
The legislation successfully reached 218 signatures on a discharge petition filed by Representative Donald Norcross (D-NJ) to force a House floor vote on the bill. The bill itself has the support of 17 Republicans, and combined with near universal support from Democrats, would be more than enough to secure passage of the bill on the floor. Should it pass the House, it would almost certainly be blocked from consideration in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to advance, and only one Republicans Senator, Josh Hawley, has supported it.