House Democrats Sidestepped Mike Johnson to Pass Pro-Union Bill
House Democrats used a discharge petition to get around the obstruction to labor that is the Republican Speaker of the House, passing a pro-union bill with the help of 20 House Republicans.
Here’s an odd win for The People, which naturally involved Democrats working around Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is anti-labor, to pass a Democrat-led pro-labor bill to make it easier to join unions.
The House of Representatives passed The Faster Labor Contracts Act yesterday with a bipartisan 230-193 vote. The bill was introduced by Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and co-sponsored by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). This bill is meant to stop “corporations from using endless negotiating delays to block unions from obtaining their first contract.”
The Daily is journalism that is focused on democracy, freedom, and the 99%. Please support our work by becoming a subscriber.
Democrats worked around the Republican conspiracy theorist who holds the gavel and is third in line to the presidency — because that is who the Republican Party is these days — by using a discharge petition and attracting a handful of Republican Representatives who were willing to turn their backs on their party of Very Big Business Only to help the little people.
All in all, 20 House Republicans crossed the party line to help pass pro-union bill the Faster Labor Contracts Act.
When Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) was asked about the Republican Speaker of the House’s whipping votes against The People, Fitzpatrick said, “It’s passing.”
And so it did.
Unions help workers, but they also tend to help everyone. Unions in America provide significant advantages to workers through collective bargaining, securing higher wages, comprehensive health benefits, and safer working conditions and they also drive broader societal benefits like narrower wage gaps and stronger labor standards.
Naturally, the generic Republican is repulsed by such notions. Why would we need a narrower wage gap when billionaire soon-to-be trillionaire Elon Musk is doing so well? Will no one think of how well this money saved by abusing workers trickles up to the billionaire class?
