Democrats have long pushed for pro-union measures guaranteed to raise wages, as they pretend they care about “low cost.” But why Republicans are you joining them now?
On Tuesday, a full 20 GOPers crossed paths to pass the Fast Track Labor Contracts Act, 230-193.
The bill, lifted from the Dems’ PRO Act, aims to increase unionization by forcing employers to approve labor contracts within 90 days after a newly formed labor group requests negotiations.
If the two sides don’t reach an agreement by then, the bill gives the feds the power force agreement between the company and its employees.
That makes no sense: The government has no policy on placing business in private sector contracts of any kind.
The decisions of government officials, who are less likely to know the specifics of the contract dispute than the workers and managers themselves, are inevitably based on political bias – not economic facts.
And those realities can put pressure on employers, leading to reduced hours, layoffs and business closures.
They are also sure to raise prices, as companies pass on the additional cost of expensive labor contracts to consumers.
Meanwhile, another law — said to be in response to Norfolk Southern’s 2023 riot in East Palestine, Ohio — imposes unnecessary new rules on trucking companies, for no good reason other than to please unions.
Most annoying: the two-man requirement, at a time when so many vehicles – cars, trucks, boats, planes, yes, even trains – are moving with them. no parties at all.
In Europe, most trains have long been operating well with one-man crews.
And such a requirement would not have prevented the disaster in East Palestine: That train had it three crew members on board.
Other orders, such as regular inspections, are equally unwarranted: Investigators cited an overheated tire, not anything the inspection might have caught, as the cause of the Norfolk Southern derailment.
Instead of focusing on “the root causes of incidents like East Palestine,” warned Ian Jefferies, president of the Association of American Railroads, these mandates “will only increase costs throughout the freight network and the broader supply chain — without any guaranteed safety benefit.”
That would hurt “railway customers, manufacturers, energy producers, farmers and American consumers.”
President Donald Trump and other Republicans in Congress support the amendments anyway.
It is a rich irony that the Democrats, who gave America Bidenflation and have long supported these inflationary measures, continue to insist that they can deliver “affordability”.
But if the Republicans, who are supposed to champion low costs and free markets, measures like these, are not just ironic; it is betrayal.
