The Faster Labor Contracts Act would give workers a fair shot at a better life

Labor Day reminds me of a moment in my childhood. I couldn’t have been more than five years old, sitting on my grandfather’s knee and listening to stories about his journey from Ireland through Ellis Island. He taught me more than family history. He taught me what hard work could make possible  — and how his membership in the Iron Workers union gave him the security and opportunity to build the better life he had crossed an ocean in search of.

For too many families today, that dream has slipped out of reach. The Faster Labor Contracts Act is one way I am working to restore it — by giving workers a fairer path to the security, opportunity and upward mobility that helped change the course of my own family.

The pressures facing working families are not abstract. Housing, health care, education, childcare and everyday necessities consume more of the family budget. Wages have struggled to keep pace. And even workers who exercise their legal right to organize can spend months — or years — waiting for their first contract that actually moves them forward.

A new Gallup report shows labor unions with a 71 percent approval rating, the highest in recent history, with support extending across Independents, Republicans and Democrats. It’s easy to understand why. Research shows that union workers earn over 11 percent more than their nonunion peers and are more likely to have employer-sponsored health coverage and access to paid sick leave.

Yet only 10 percent of Americans belong to unions today.

When workers seek to organize, they can face sophisticated anti-union campaigns, designed to........

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