Labor Relations Radio, E166—A New Bill Puts the Feds into the Position of Dictating Contract Terms On The Private Sector. Here's Why That's Bad...

If the workers surrender control over working relations to legislative and administrative agents, they put their industrial liberty at the disposal of state agents. — Samuel Gompers, 1915

On Tuesday, Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), as well as Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act—a bill that is endorsed by the Teamsters, which would put federally-mandated arbitrators in the position of dictating first-time labor contracts onto employers, employees, and unions.

The Faster Labor Contracts Act would:

• Amend the National Labor Relations Act to require that after workers have voted to form a union, employers must begin negotiating with the new union within 10 days.

• Provide that if no agreement is reached within 90 days, the dispute will be referred to mediation.

• Stipulate that if mediation fails within 30 days, or additional periods agreed upon by the parties, the dispute will be referred to binding arbitration to secure an initial contract (view more details of this provision in highlights here).

• Commission a Government Accountability Office report on average workplace time-to-contract one year after enactment.

Read the full highlighted bill here.

“The Faster Labor Contracts Act is a massive expansion of the federal government’s authority over the private sector,” noted Kristen Swearingen, spoksperson for the Coalition for Democratic Workplace. “It would allow government bureaucrats to dictate the employment terms of workers via mandatory, binding arbitration, meaning they can set the workers’ wages, benefits, workplace safety standards, pensions, and so on with no oversight by the workers, employers, unions, or even the judicial branch.”

In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Alex MacDonald, Co-Chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, joins host Peter List to discuss the ramifications of this bill if it becomes law.

---

Follow Alex MacDonald on LinkedIn here.

Follow Alex MacDonald’s writings at the Federalist Society here.

Prior Labor Relations Radio episodes with Alex MacDonald:

• Labor Relations Radio, E161—WPI's Alex MacDonald On The Legal Theory Behind The Firing Of NLRB Member Wilcox

• Labor Relations Radio, E149: An Accidental Outcome? Alex MacDonald returns to discuss how the NLRA's success has resulted in fewer unions & what might happen under a new administration in DC.

• Labor Relations Radio E144—Alex MacDonald Explains How Unions' Right to"Exclusive Representation" May Be Unconstitutional

• Labor Relations Radio E138 — Attorney Alex MacDonald On The Constitutionality Of 'Exclusive Representation'

---