House Passes Labor Negotiations Bill With 20 Republican Defections

The House passed the Faster Labor Contracts Act on June 9, 2026, by a 230-to-191 vote, with 20 Republicans crossing party lines and one Democrat voting against. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ), would require employers to begin contract negotiations within 10 days of a union's written request, allow either party to invoke federal mediation after 90 days without a deal, and — if no agreement is reached after a further 30 days — submit the dispute to a binding three-member arbitration panel whose decision would stand for two years. Proponents, including Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who sponsors the Senate companion bill, argue the measure addresses a documented problem: Bloomberg Law data cited in the legislation found the average time to a first contract is 465 days, and some unions — including Starbucks workers in Buffalo and Amazon workers on Staten Island — still lack contracts years after their elections. Opponents, including the CHRO Association representing 350 large corporations and groups like Americans for Prosperity, called the bill 'draconian,' arguing the compressed timeline is unrealistic for complex negotiations and that government arbitrators lack the on-the-ground knowledge to impose fair terms. Critics on the right, including Reason and the New York Post, further argued that binding arbitration removes workers' ability to ratify or reject a contract, effectively handing that power to union officials and federal bureaucrats. The bill's path in the Senate is uncertain; while Hawley's companion bill has two Republican and 13 Democratic cosponsors, Senate HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy has criticized it, and President Trump would be expected to veto it.