The Faster Labor Contracts Act is a dangerous bill that would fundamentally undermine fair labor negotiations, strip workers of their rights, and impose unsustainable contract terms on businesses. Rather than encouraging genuine, good-faith negotiation between workers and employers, this legislation creates a broken system where government-imposed arbitration replaces voluntary agreement.

The FLCA:

• Undermines Voluntary Negotiation and Labor Stability – Stable labor relations are built on good-faith negotiation between willing parties. The FLCA destroys this incentive. When unions know that an arbitrator will impose contract terms if negotiations stall, there’s no pressure to compromise or reach reasonable agreements. Both sides can simply walk away and wait for a government arbitrator to dictate terms. This creates perverse incentives for bad-faith bargaining and eliminates the need to negotiate responsibly.
• Empowers Arbitrators with No Accountability or Industry Knowledge – Arbitrators with no knowledge of your business, your industry, your financial constraints, or your specific circumstances will unilaterally dictate your labor contract. The bill contains no requirement that this contract be sustainable, financially feasible, or even possible to implement. The arbitrator has no accountability for whether the terms they impose harm workers’ job security or destroy the business. This is a recipe for disaster.
• Imposes Contracts Based on Comparators with No Connection to Your Business – The bill allows arbitrators to impose contract terms by looking at other companies’ contracts — often companies that operate in different industries, markets, economic conditions, or business models. An arbitrator may base a labor agreement on comparator contracts from companies with completely different circumstances, cost structures, or operational needs. This comparison approach ignores the reality that each business is unique and has distinct requirements for viability and worker retention. It also means radical political demands from some of the most powerful local unions, like prohibiting an employer from cooperating with immigration enforcement officials or requiring employers cover abortion services in their healthcare benefits, could be forcibly applied to companies and workers across the country.
• Prevents Employers from Protecting Critical Business Interests – The arbitration process leaves employers powerless to object to provisions that could cripple their business. Employers will have no opportunity to highlight why certain wage levels, work rules, staffing requirements, or operational restrictions are unsustainable or unworkable. An arbitrator can impose contract language that directly contradicts the employer’s legitimate safety, quality, or financial needs, and the employer wouldn’t be able to appeal.
• Strips Workers of Their Right to Ratify Their Own Contract – Workers deserve a voice in the agreements that govern their employment. The FLCA denies workers their fundamental right to ratify the contract that will bind them. Removing the ratification process is an attack on worker democracy and removes the only meaningful check on an arbitrator’s power.

Congress needs to reject this dangerous legislation. Urge your Senators to oppose the Faster Labor Contracts Act and protect voluntary, good-faith labor negotiations!