ABC Opposes the Egregious Faster Labor Contracts Act

Associated Builders and Contractors today released the following statement in response to Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn.,'s  introduction of the Faster Labor Contracts Act, or FLCA, in the U.S. House of Representatives:

“By imposing government-mandated contract terms on employers and employees, the FLCA takes away the parties’ basic rights to freely negotiate workplace conditions. This has never happened in America before,” said ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman. “The parties, not the government, should determine the terms and conditions of employment. In contrast, the FLCA drastically expands federal bureaucrats’ authority over agreements in the private sector.

“This House bill mirrors deeply flawed provisions found in the radical Protecting the Right to Organize Act and the discredited Employee Free Choice Act—both of which were rejected by Congress in the past for good reason,” Bellaman said. “The FLCA would mandate binding arbitration after just 120 days of bargaining—a process that disregards the unique needs of individual workplaces and hands unprecedented power to federal bureaucrats.”

The FLCA would:

• Impose unrealistic, arbitrary deadlines requiring employers to reach an agreement in first contract negotiations with newly elected unions.
• Empower government-appointed arbitrators to mandate “binding interest arbitration” in private contracts, which eviscerates the “voluntary agreement,” primary tenet and foundational principles of U.S. labor law. 
• Dictate the terms of many first contracts between employers and unions, including determining wages, benefits, safety procedures and leave.
• Provide no recourse for workers or businesses if they disagree with the decision of a government-appointed arbiter. The workers would not have the right to ratify the binding contract. Further, under the FLCA, the arbiter does not have to take into account the ability of the business to afford the binding contract.

“ABC calls on members of the House to stand with workers, entrepreneurs and small businesses by rejecting this misguided bill,” said Bellaman.

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