We Need Faster Labor Contracts!

Below is a direct copy and paste from the IAM newsletter.  I would only add that the folks who will be joining our local are being held up by this very issue and have been for at least a year. 

Tell Your Senators: We Need Faster Labor Contracts! Send Your Letter

The bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act (S. 844) has passed in the House and is now in the Senate!

This piece of labor reform will end unfair delays in reaching a first contract for new unions, thereby ensuring that when workers exercise their legally protected right to vote to form a union, a collective bargaining agreement follows in a timely manner.

Lead sponsor Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), alongside Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), introduced the bill which amends the National Labor Relations Act to include timelines for meetings to begin first-contract negotiations, mediating if the parties are stuck, and have a binding arbitration panel to ensure a first contract is secured after workers have successfully voted for union representation.

Once workers vote to form a union, they begin negotiating an initial contract with their employer. But the process of negotiating this first contract does not have any time frame under the law—so undue tactical delay can hinder the process and leave workers fighting for years to obtain this first agreement.

That is why the Faster Labor Contracts Act is so important.

Corporations should not be able to hold up, stall, and drag out bargaining for a first contract — they should be obliged under the law to reach a collective bargaining agreement in a reasonable time frame. Making it illegal to draw out negotiations would incentivize employers to faithfully bargain in a timely manner.

Tell your Senators now to cosponsor and support the Faster Labor Contracts Act so that new union members aren't the only ones motivated to establish a collective bargaining agreement, their right under federal law.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-we-need-faster-labor-contracts-send-your-letter/