House Democrats are trying to pull a fast one on Republicans.
On April 20, Democrats joined with union leaders to announce a so-called “discharge petition” on the Faster Labor Contracts Act. With strong Democratic backing for the petition, and if they can convince a handful of Republicans to join them, the House will be forced to vote on a bill that Democrats are calling “pro-worker.” Yet, Republican representatives should know: The Faster Labor Contracts Act is a direct attack on workers’ rights.
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Don’t take it from me. Take it from a union official who was invited by Democrats to testify at a congressional hearing last year. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) asked the shop steward, who’s with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, about the Faster Labor Contracts Act. The bill is so named because it imposes an expedited deadline for contract negotiations between businesses and unions.
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If they can’t reach an agreement in time, the federal bureaucrats would force the creation of an arbitration panel, which would then unilaterally impose a collective bargaining agreement. But workers wouldn’t be allowed to vote for the contract, even though it dictates the terms of their employment. Voting on a contract is standard practice precisely because it lets workers make their voice heard and control their future.
Before Cassidy named the bill, he described what it would do. The shop steward replied that taking away the contract vote would mean “removing democracy from the workplace.” He then said that democracy “is the whole point of the union.” The shop steward may not have known then that the senator was describing a proposal that his own union supports. But he was absolutely right: Forcing a contract on workers without a vote is the opposite of workplace democracy.
That fact alone makes the Faster Labor Contracts Act a bad idea. But the bill wouldn’t just take away workers’ rights. It would also encourage both labor unions and businesses to bargain in bad faith. The calculus is simple: Either party could make impossible demands, knowing that the other party would refuse to meet them. Yet, they could hope that the federal government grants those demands when it unilaterally imposes a contract. As one former senior congressional staffer recently told the media, the Faster Labor Contracts Act could mean that “unions can be unreasonable and win.” The same is true of businesses.
Yet whoever wins, workers could lose. For instance, if the contract leans heavily in favor of the union, it could leave a business unable to compete long-term. Research by labor scholar Liya Palagashvili shows that undue increases in union leverage like this can lead to short-term gains but often long-term harms for worker outcomes and business stability. That’s the road to layoffs or bankruptcy, as workers have seen at companies ranging from Yellow trucking to UPS. On the flip side, if the contract leans toward business demands, workers could miss out on wage gains or benefits they otherwise could have gotten through negotiations.
Workers are supposed to vote on their contracts precisely so they can weigh such pros and cons. By taking away that vote, the Faster Labor Contracts Act would prevent them from making their own decision about what’s truly in their best interest. They could recognize that the government’s contract would hurt them, yet be forced to suffer anyway.
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Workers would be better served by Congress focusing on policies that balance the playing field and give workers a voice, encouraging unions to compete for workers’ support, and ensuring transparency and fairness in the process. But the Faster Labor Contract Acts would move labor law in the opposite direction, hurting workers in the process.
It remains to be seen if Democrats will succeed in convincing a few Republicans to join them in forcing a vote on this unfortunate bill. Yet, at the end of the day, no one should back this attack on the hardworking men and women who keep America strong and growing. Workplace democracy is a fundamental right, and if Democrats won’t protect it, Republicans must hold the line for the sake of workers.
F. Vincent Vernuccio is president of the Institute for the American Worker.
