Faster Labor Contracts Act Passes House with Some GOP Support, Faces Senate Republican Opposition
The bill cleared the House on June 9 and now faces Senate review, where Sen. Bill Cassidy said he cannot support it over concerns about abortion and transgender coverage.
Washington ExaminerThe Faster Labor Contracts Act passed the House on June 9 through a special procedural maneuver that drew some Republican support. The measure would require employers to begin bargaining within 10 days of union certification.
U.S. Labor law imposes no timeline for reaching a first union contract. Opponents state that negotiating the first contract currently takes an average of over 450 days. If no contract is reached within 120 days of union establishment, the bill would trigger a mandated arbitration process with a three-arbitrator panel.
U.S. Department of Labor. The legislation is sponsored in the Senate by Sen.
Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, stated he could not support the bill because it could force Louisiana workers and small businesses to fund abortions and sex-change operations.
A Hawley spokesperson stated that federal labor law already shields religious employers from covering abortion or transgender medical procedures that violate religious conscience. The spokesperson added that the bill will have the greatest effect on large corporations such as Amazon that stall union contracts but already support transgender medicine, abortion, and other DEI policies.
Thomas Beck, a senior adviser at the Workplace Policy Institute of Littler Mendelson who previously served 13 years as head of employee relations for HCA Healthcare and handled labor relations issues for both Trump presidential transition teams, said abortion and transgender medical coverage would be an easy bargaining chip for arbitrators.
“It’s going to be easy for the arbitrator to say, ‘OK, employer, I’m not going to make you pay the high wages that the union is demanding,’” Beck said. ’” The AFL-CIO’s model collective bargaining language ensures health plans cover abortion and gender transition procedures. ” “Healthcare is all negotiable,” Deniz said.
