The U.S. House of Representatives on June 9 passed a bill that — if it passes the Senate and is signed by President Trump — would be the most significant reform to U.S. labor law in generations.
H.R. 5408, sponsored by Donald Norcross of New Jersey, is entitled the Faster Labor Contracts Act. That’s its name because it tackles one of the current labor law’s biggest flaws: Workers can vote to unionize but then never get a union contract, or wait years before getting one. According to a 2021 Bloomberg Law study, on average it took 465 days for a newly unionized group of workers to get a first union contract.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act would give workers options if employers drag their feet. Employers would be require to start contract negotiations within 10 days of a union being certified. If no agreement is reached 90 days after that, either side could request mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. And if that mediation fails to produce an agreement after 30 days, either side could ask an arbitrator to decide the terms of a first contract of up to two years duration. Nothing in the Faster Labor Contracts Act would force the two sides into binding arbitration if they’re making progress and want to finish bargaining on their own.
There are similar provisions at the state level for public sector workers, and in a letter to Congress supporting the bill, AFL-CIO government affairs director Jody Calemine said the evidence from those examples shows arbitration is rarely invoked. “The possibility of a binding decision from an arbitration is itself a powerful incentive for good-faith bargaining,” Calemine wrote.
We are proposing that workers get a choice. If an employer won’t meaningfully come to the table, my legislation would give workers and employers the option to invoke hard deadlines. It is an option. It is not mandatory. By leveling the playing field, the Faster Labor Contracts Act would be the most significant new protection for workers since before World War II.
U.S. Representative Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey) speaking for the Faster Labor Contracts Act on the House floor
Norcross is a union electrician by trade and a member of IBEW Local 351; he’s considered one of the most pro-labor legislators in the House. The Faster Labor Contracts Act is supported by the AFL-CIO and more than 20 unions, including IBEW, Teamsters, Machinists, and United Steel Workers. Business groups opposed the measure. The Faster Labor Contracts Act has some Republican support, and that was key to its passage in the Republican-led House.
House Republican leaders wouldn’t give the bill a hearing in committee or schedule a vote on the House floor, so to overcome that, Norcross gathered 218 signatures (a majority of the House) on what’s known as a discharge petition, forcing a vote.
Before the vote, there was an hour of debate, evenly split between supporters and opponents.
“This bill corrects a loophole and gives a timeline to negotiate a contract. That is what it does,” said Val Hoyle (D-Oregon), one of a handful of representatives speaking in favor. “This is a pro-worker bill, and should not be a partisan issue, and it is not. We have Republicans who have stood up for workers as well. Either you stand with workers or you don’t.”
In the end, the bill passed 230-193, with 210 Democrats and 20 Republicans voting yes. (All Oregon and Washington Democrats voted yes and all Republicans voted no.)
It now goes to the Senate, where it has at least one prominent Republican supporter: Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has sponsored identical legislation in the Senate.
