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The House of Representatives approved a Democratic-led labor bill after 20 Republicans broke party lines to support the measure.
Introduced by Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey, the Faster Labor Contracts Act passed with a resounding 230-193 vote.
The bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act aims to accelerate contract negotiations between newly-unionized workplaces and their employees.
“Newly-unionized workers shouldn’t have to wait years for their first contract. I appreciate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for coming together to take this enormous step,” Norcross, an electrician by trade and a union member, said after the Tuesday vote.
The bill was introduced in September, with Republican Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota lending his bipartisan support.
“The right of workers to form a union and collectively bargain is crucial to improving wages, hours, working conditions, and so much more. I know because I’ve lived it,” Stauber said.
As expected, Stauber voted “yea” on the measure. He was joined by fellow Republican representatives Mike Carey, Dave Joyce, Max Miller, Michael Turner, and Michael Rulli of Ohio; Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, Nick Langworthy, Nicole Malliotakis, and Mike Lawler of New York.
Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida; Riley Moore of West Virginia; Jefferson Van Drew and Christopher Smith of New Jersey; Brian Fitzpatrick and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania; Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin also voted in favor.
Lawler said workers “who choose to organize deserve a fair shot at reaching their first contract.”
“This bipartisan legislation helps ensure the collective bargaining process moves forward in good faith and that workers have a meaningful opportunity to secure the benefits and protections they voted for,” he added, in a statement after the vote.
Lawler’s vote lands as he faces a competitive race to continue representing New York’s 17th District.
“I am trying to find a fair balance when it comes to management and labor,” Bacon said of his vote in an emailed statement to TIME.
“If employees vote to unionize, management has to acknowledge and seek a fair agreement. Refusing to negotiate is not an option. A fair arbitrator is sometimes needed.”
The legislation requires employers to begin contract negotiations no later than 10 days after receiving a written request for collective bargaining from an individual or labor organization.
There would then be further steps in place to ensure laborers are not left in a state of limbo.
Nelson Lichtenstein, a research professor of U.S. labor history at University of California, Santa Barbara, tells TIME “there’s a realization out there, which transcends the labor movement, transcends even liberalism, that this (current) system is really broken, and corporations are taking advantage of it.”
Republican critics of the bill argue it represents government overreach and could actually harm the job market and workers’ rights.
Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan, who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, sharply opposed the bill on the floor, arguing it takes power away from the workers.
Walberg said the legislation “fast-tracks government intrusion into private workplaces, and it erodes workers’ rights.”
“Let’s call this bill what it really is, a massive expansion of Washington’s power over American workers and job creators. It is the latest attempt to put workers under the thumb of federal bureaucrats,” he argued.
Similarly, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina said “being pro-worker does not mean handing more power to Washington, and it certainly does not mean taking decisions away from the workers themselves. Yet that is exactly what this bill does.”
Despite the opposition, the bill passed after being advanced through a discharge petition, a procedural maneuver that allows members to bypass House leadership and force a vote if they secure majority support.
Democrats successfully used the same tactic in November 2025 to pass legislation directing the Justice Department to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
More recently, it was used to approve a bill providing new aid to Ukraine while imposing additional sanctions on Russia.
Democrats have framed the vote as a victory for labor groups.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, a member of the Labor Caucus, called it “a big win for workers across America.”
Rep. Shontel Brown of Ohio said: “Speaker [Mike] Johnson wouldn’t bring this bill to the floor, but House Democrats and the Labor Caucus built bipartisan support and used a discharge petition to force a vote.”
“This bill is designed to move the needle a little bit more in the favor of unionization,” Lichtenstein says, as it is “putting pressure on the company.”
The measure now heads to the Senate, where it faces notably steeper odds.
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