Posts tagged Senate
Op-ed: When Labor Policy Leaves Its Workers Behind
June 2, 2026 // The Faster Labor Contracts Act empowers unions at workers’ expense. Some Republicans failed to see this charade in the House, but hopefully the Senate will have more common sense.
Op-ed: The New Big Labor GOP
May 26, 2026 // The FLCA is a plank in the Big Labor PRO Act that failed to pass Congress in the Biden years. The bill is now likely to pass the House. The GOP Senate could kill it, but Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) is sponsoring the corresponding legislation there. The pro-union Republicans fancy themselves as tribunes for the common man, but they’re really rubber stamps for labor bosses who are allies of the Democratic Party.
Congress Should Reject the “Faster Labor Contracts Act”
May 15, 2026 // “What would happen if workers lost that ability to ratify a contract?” Cassidy asked. “That would be removing democracy from the workplace,” replied the Democrats’ witness, himself a union organizer. Despite this, the Faster Labor Contracts Act has since gained more cosponsors, which are almost entirely Democrats. In the House, Democrats are pushing for the passage of a discharge petition to force the bill through Congress. Union bosses such as Teamsters President Sean O’Brien are running an aggressive campaign to push for the bill’s passage, including attempts to fool Republicans into signing on.
The Fast and the Spurious: Teamster allies push Faster Labor Contracts Act
April 30, 2026 // For union leaders, the important part is just getting the contract signed. The fact that it is flawed or potentially unworkable is secondary to generating union dues. Unions typically demand that contracts contain so-called security clauses, provisions that require management to automatically deduct union dues from workers’ paychecks and route them into the labor organization’s account. That’s the real reason for the urgency to get the contract.
Trump taps veteran labor lawyer to fill out Republican NLRB majority
April 14, 2026 // Trump's appointees are expected to target a series of labor board policies favored by unions that have helped fuel a spike in union organizing in recent years. But board rules require three members to vote in favor of overruling existing precedent, and Murphy and Mayer said during confirmation proceedings that they would not break with that practice. Murphy and Mayer have already revived a rule adopted by the NLRB during Trump's first term that makes it more difficult to hold companies liable as the "joint employers" of contract and franchise workers, and relinquished jurisdiction over a case involving Elon Musk's SpaceX to a different federal labor agency.
Commentary: Congress is about to undo DOGE’s biggest win
April 13, 2026 // That corrupt flow of campaign cash into Congress’s coffers is ultimately why, instead of being eliminated by DOGE, the FMCS is on track to be given a whole new set of powers. New Jersey Democrat Donald Norcross recently filed a discharge petition on the Faster Labor Contracts Act. The petition will force the House to vote on the bill once it reaches 218 signatures. The bill can easily hit that target if all 214 House Democrats sign the petition, along with any four of the bill’s 17 Republican cosponsors. Understanding a politician’s real priorities often requires zooming into these quiet battles over little-known agencies.
Freelance Busting: ‘Absolute Stalemate’
February 20, 2026 // The nearly two-thirds of Americans who would prefer to be our own bosses need protection from this encroachment on our freedom to choose self-employment. So do the vast majority of us who are already independent contractors and wish to remain so. It’s beyond frustrating that the help we need may be a long time coming, especially at the federal level. Experts recently gathered to discuss the reality of the situation in Congress during an hourlong Federalist Society panel, where they minced no words about why the challenges in Washington, D.C., persist.
Unions oppose a Trump labor nominee over lack of experience, hostility toward bargaining
February 18, 2026 // Last September, Trump nominated Charlton Allen to serve as general counsel for the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Per Allen’s website, he is a conservative lawyer, political consultant and occasional pundit, who served for seven years as a North Carolina industrial commissioner. The FLRA general counsel is responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged unfair labor practices and other disputes between federal agencies and their labor unions. In the year since President Trump returned to office, a backlog of 300 cases has developed, which cannot proceed to the FLRA for consideration without a Senate-confirmed general counsel.
Webinar with The Federalist Society: Labor Law Reform on Capitol Hill: Opening Offer or Impasse?
February 17, 2026 // Last session saw no shortage of proposals in Congress for labor-law reform. In the Senate, lawmakers introduced proposals ranging from mandatory interest arbitration to bans on organizing undocumented workers. In the House, representatives proposed a range of union-democracy reforms, including a requirement for unions to poll their members before endorsing a candidate for president. And in between, scholars and practitioners offered their own ideas, including a proposal to transform the National Labor Relations Board into an article I court.
Michigan Democratic Senate hopefuls tout their union bona fides
February 12, 2026 // Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County public health official, each said they would champion workers rights and manufacturing if elected to the Senate in what’s expected to be one of the most closely watched races this year. Support from autoworkers could be crucial in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Senate Democrats need to net four seats to win control of the chamber, and defending Peters’ seat is key to that effort.