Congress is on the verge of “removing democracy from the workplace”
The Faster Labor Contracts Act, due to be considered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives next week, has a deeply misleading title.
Supported by nearly all House Democrats and a small number of Republicans, the FLCA would require employers — including those across the retail industry — and unions to reach an initial collective bargaining agreement within 120 days or otherwise enter binding interest arbitration for a first contract.
In effect, that means a federally authorized arbitration panel would set the terms of the contract that dictates wages, benefits, safety rules, leave policies and most other workplace conditions for newly organized employees.
That is not collective bargaining as it has long been understood under federal labor law. The National Labor Relations Act was designed to encourage voluntary bargaining between private parties. It was not designed to allow the government to control the substance of workplace agreements when negotiations become difficult. That approach has long guided industries like retail, where employers and employees rely on flexible, negotiated agreements to respond to changing economic conditions.
Courts have recognized for decades that the law protects the process of bargaining while leaving the actual terms of an agreement to the parties themselves. The FLCA breaks from that model completely.
It doesn’t just weaken the principle of voluntary agreement....
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