On June 9, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed what could be the most radical revision to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in its history. By a vote of 230-193, the House passed H.R. 5408—the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA). The “aye” votes included every Democratic representative and 20 Republican representatives. The FLCA would set a time limit on negotiation of a first collective bargaining agreement, with the penalty of arbitrator-imposed terms if the employer and the union did not agree on an agreement.
This would upend several well-established principles of federal labor law under which labor and management have operated for decades.
Negotiations
The rationale for the FLCA is the complaint from labor unions that it takes too long to negotiate a first labor agreement after a union representation election. Unions cite examples of first negotiations taking more than a year in some instances and claim that businesses extend negotiations to diminish employee support of a union. There’s little empirical evidence to support the unions’ rationale.
Collective bargaining agreements contain provisions on dozens of subjects affecting both the business’s operations and conditions of employment, as well as the wages and benefits provided to employees by an employer. All of this takes time to negotiate and memorialize in writing in an agreement. Unions frequently do not simply agree to accept an employer’s existing personnel policies, wage rates, insurance, or retirement benefits.
Deadlines
The FLCA contains unrealistic deadlines for contract negotiations and requires interest arbitration to resolve contract terms if an agreement is not negotiated within those deadlines. The specific deadlines are as follows:
- Negotiations on a first collective bargaining agreement must begin within 10 calendar days of a written request from a newly certified labor organization.
- The parties have 90 days to negotiate the first agreement.
- After 90 days, either party may request mediation through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). If mediation is requested, the parties are allotted 30 days to mediate the terms of the first agreement.
- If mediation is unsuccessful, they are required to enter binding interest arbitration. Unresolved contract terms would be submitted to a panel of three arbitrators. Each party would appoint one arbitrator. The third arbitrator could be agreed to by the parties or—failing agreement—appointed by the FMCS within 14 days.
Thus, the new time limit in the FLCA to negotiate a first agreement is 90 days. While the FLCA would permit the parties to extend that time frame, there would be little reason for a labor union to agree to extend the 90-day time frame when it can simply request mediation and then interest arbitration to try to get an arbitration panel to impose the contract terms the union favors.
There isn’t a time limit for the interest arbitration to be completed in the FLCA. However, the bill does provide authority for the FMCS—which had its services significantly reduced in 2025 through actions by the current presidential administration—to establish regulations relative to interest arbitration under the FLCA.
Making Contract Term Decisions
The FLCA provides limited guidance to the arbitration panel on the criteria it should use to make its contract term decisions. The FLCA lists five factors for the arbitration panel to consider:
- The employer’s financial status and prospects;
- The size and type of the employer’s operations and business;
- The employees’ cost of living;
- The employees’ ability to sustain themselves, their families, and their dependents on the wages and benefits they earn from the employer; and
- The wages and benefits other employers in the same business provide their employees.
The language in the five factors is broad, and none of the terms are defined in the FLCA. The contract determined by the arbitration panel would be for a period of two years, which is a shorter term than most collective bargaining agreements.
Principles of Federal Labor Law
There’s no precedent in federal labor law for mandatory binding interest arbitration to determine the terms of collective bargaining agreements. Indeed, the NLRA contains a provision expressly stating that neither a union nor an employer is compelled to agree to a contract proposal or make a concession on a contract term. This provision isn’t repealed by the FLCA, even though the binding interest arbitration provisions of the bill are clearly at odds with the principle codified in the law that neither party is required to make a concession in good-faith bargaining. It seems very clear that binding interest arbitration is a means for a labor union to circumvent an employer’s refusal to concede to the union’s contract demands.
The FLCA also raises questions about other long-established principles of federal labor law. For example, there’s nothing in the bill about employees ratifying a collective bargaining agreement, which is a traditional step in the contract negotiation process. It may be that the arbitration panel could impose terms for the collective bargaining agreement that the majority of the employees to whom the agreement applies would not agree with.
Another basic principle of federal labor law that may no longer apply under the FLCA is what occurs when the parties reach an impasse in negotiation of the contract. Currently, once impasse is reached, a business may implement its last, best, and final offer. The bill contains a provision that would require an employer to maintain current wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment “pending an agreement,” which could be interpreted as continuing through negotiations and the interest arbitration process. This new language, on its face, isn’t limited to first contract negotiations and might be interpreted by a court to apply to every contract negotiation to require current wages, and terms may be continued even after an impasse in bargaining is reached.
Another labor law principle that may be affected, at least in a first contract, is a union’s right to strike and the corresponding right of management to lock employees out. The traditional means for a union to gain leverage in negotiation is to hold a strike vote and then walk off the job, thereby withholding the labor needed to produce the business’s goods and products. It’s unclear under the FLCA how, or if, the right to strike fits into the binding interest arbitration process.
Bottom Line
The FLCA must still be voted on in the U.S. Senate. With a Republican party majority in the Senate, employers might view the FLCA’s passage as unlikely. However, three Republican senators, Josh Hawley (MO), Bernie Moreno (OH), and Roger Marshal (KS), have expressed public support for the legislation and co-sponsored a Senate version of the bill. This should put businesses on notice to contact their senators and representatives to express their views on the FLCA.
Tony Puckett is a labor and employment attorney in the Oklahoma City office of McAfee & Taft and can be contacted at tony.puckett@mcafeetaft.com.