A group of Republican senators introduced legislation Monday that would overhaul national labor laws to reflect changes in the modern economy.
The proposed bills aim to bring outdated labor statutes into the 21st century by addressing how work is done today rather than how work was done nearly a century ago, according to the senators who introduced the bills.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led the effort with support from Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Cassidy told reporters that the plan is to update labor law so it benefits workers, unions, and businesses alike.
"We've got two goals here," Cassidy said. "How do you improve the voice of the worker, the choice of the worker and the rights of the worker, in order to achieve the second goal: to have labor and business work together to create certainty, and with that certainty to increase prosperity."
One bill, titled the RESULTS Act, would overhaul union election rules by requiring secret ballots and a two-thirds quorum to validate votes and would extend the time frame for workers to decide on union representation from one month to 90 days.
Another measure, dubbed the Fairness in Filing Act, would require workers filing unfair labor practice charges to submit evidence such as text messages or emails to reduce frivolous claims and expedite consideration at the National Labor Relations Board.
A separate measure, the Union Members' Right to Know Act, would require unions to provide clearer disclosures about members' rights, particularly with respect to political spending and dues, and would give workers an option to opt out of political contributions.
Additional bills in the package would protect workers' personal data and prohibit illegal immigrants from being hired or unionized under federal law.
Cassidy emphasized the reforms are intended to modernize, not undermine, unions and build on earlier efforts to expand protections for independent or gig-economy workers.
The federal labor law framework in the U.S. has remained largely unchanged for decades, despite seismic shifts in employment practices, contracting, and independent worker models.
Cassidy and his colleagues point to recent bipartisan packages that aimed to empower independent contractors and clarify benefit access, illustrating that this legislative push is part of a larger effort to modernize work law.
"There's just a reflexive opposition to what one side proposes, so we don't want reflexive opposition," he said. "But there will be absolutely an iterative process with the White House, as there has been with other things we've been working on."
The bills were formally introduced in the Senate on Monday and will be referred to the HELP Committee for hearings and markup.
If enacted, the legislation could represent the most substantial overhaul of authority under the National Labor Relations Act and other major labor statutes in decades.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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