Quick Hits

• The U.S. House passed a bill that would impose a one-size-fits-all timeline on collective bargaining, which now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
• The bill would mandate an accelerated bargaining timeline and a mandatory process that can result in the imposition of first-contract terms.
• The bill has some bipartisan support, though businesses have largely come out against it and argue it goes against the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce government bureaucracy.

Under the bill, H.R. 5408/S. 844, once a prescribed time for bargaining (120 days) expires, government officials would impose nonreviewable contractual terms on the parties that will be binding for two years.

Proponents of the bill forced the vote through use of the House “discharge” process to circumvent Republican leaders’ control of the legislative agenda. Twenty Republicans joined with Democrats to ensure passage of the bill. The FLCA now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it is supported by approximately one dozen Democrats, as well as Republican Senators Josh Hawley (MO), Roger Marshall (KS), and Bernie Moreno (OH).

Background on the Proposal

The FLCA is pulled directly from the Employee Free Choice Act and the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, big labor-supported bills that have been rejected by the U.S. Congress. A coalition of nearly 400 business organizations wrote that FLCA “runs counter to President Trump’s effort to rein in the federal bureaucracy, threatens the...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiuAFBVV95cUxPeHd5MmxPUmlXVTdZbVpxTEFz...