Can Republicans Help Fix Labor Law?

At Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island, workers voted to unionize in April 2022. More than three years later, they still don’t have a contract. Their experience is emblematic: Nearly half of newly-formed unions fail to secure a contract within a year of winning an election. After two years, a full third remain without one. Many never succeed at all.

The tactic of delay rarely makes headlines, but it strikes at the core of US labor law. A right delayed into irrelevance is no right at all. When organizing leads nowhere, cynicism takes root, and the entire system loses credibility. Fixing this problem ought to be the kind of reform that could earn support from across the political spectrum—and now it does.

The Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA) was introduced in the Senate in March by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO),Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). Last week, Reps. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives, an effort that has garnered 11 Republican cosponsors. It’s the first time in recent memory that labor reform legislation has been both bipartisan and bicameral.