WASHINGTON, DC – Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today announced a Key Vote Alert urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to vote NO on H. Res. 1140 and H.R. 5408/S. 844, the Faster Labor Contracts Act. The legislation forces union contracts on workers and employers and gives government bureaucrats the power to make employment decisions if accelerated, arbitrary deadlines are not met.
According to the legislation, if a labor contract is not reached on a new, shortened timeline, a government-mandated arbitration panel has unilateral power to impose a bargaining contract on everyone. In short, it would achieve a major goal of big labor and a central pillar of the PRO Act: forcing every worker into a union, whether they want it or not, removing the very agency and choice that they say individuals should have in the workplace.
Binding companies to contracts imposed by third-party arbitrators would also make it harder for businesses to respond to the needs of their employees and customers, instead serving to increase costs at a time when American families are concerned with the cost of living. Further, Congress taking away the ability of workers to participate meaningfully in negotiations only toadvance the financial interests of union leaders is not pro worker policy.
“There is nothing pro-worker about the Faster Labor Contracts Act. At a time when Americans want less government in their lives, not more of it in their places of business, we urge all members to vote NO on this misguided anti-worker bill,” said Brent Gardner, Chief of Government Affairs for Americans for Prosperity.
The vote will be recorded in AFP’s legislative scorecard. To view the scorecard and other key votes, visit AFPscorecard.org.
Click here to view the Key Vote Alert.
In April, AFP sent a letter to Congressional opposing all efforts to advance the Faster Labor Contracts Act and the goals of the broader PRO Act agenda, noting that it falsely branded government-imposed labor contracts as a pro-worker reform that was a union-driven agenda that “substitutes government mandates for genuine worker choice.” AFP demanded a pro-worker agenda that empowers individuals, strengthens choice, and protects productive workplace relationships that respect their ability to decide what representation and contracts work best for them.
