House Republicans sided with Democrats on a union-friendly piece of legislation in a rare win for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) earlier this week.
Twenty Republicans backed the bill introduced by Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey on Thursday. The Faster Labor Contracts Act passed on a vote of 230-193.
The measure seeks to amend the National Labor Relations Act with the goal of speeding 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, who is an electician and a member of a union, said following Tuesday’s vote, per Time.
Republican Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota co-sponsored the bill when it was introduced in September.
“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.
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.
Also voting “yea” were Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida; Riley Moore of West Virginia; Jeff 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, Time reported.
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 ‘yes’ vote comes as he faces a challenging reelection campaign in New York’s 17th District.
“I am trying to find a fair balance when it comes to management and labor,” Bacon told Time regarding his vote in an emailed statement.
“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.”
Under the legislation, employers would be required to begin contract negotiations within 10 days of receiving a written request for collective bargaining from a worker or labor organization, Time reported.
The measure also establishes additional deadlines and procedures designed to keep negotiations moving forward, preventing workers from being left indefinitely waiting for a contract agreement.
Nelson Lichtenstein, a research professor of U.S. labor history at University of California, Santa Barbara, told the outlet: “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.”
GOP critics of the legislation, however, voiced concerns about federal government overreach and that it could harm worker’s rights and the job market.
Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan (R), chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, sharply criticized the bill on the floor. He argued 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,” he said.
“It is the latest attempt to put workers under the thumb of federal bureaucrats,” Walberg noted further.
Despite opposition from Republican leadership, the measure reached the House floor through a discharge petition, a procedural tool that allows lawmakers to bypass leadership and force a vote once it gains support from a majority of members.
Democrats employed the same tactic in November 2025 to advance legislation requiring the Justice Department to release records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Time reported.
