To the editor:

As the owner of a bar and nightclub in Lawrence, I understand the importance of maintaining a great working relationship with my employees. Whether it’s a small business like mine or a large corporation, it’s critical that both workers and employers have a voice in determining their relationship with one another. Unfortunately, a bill in Congress, the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), could upend this arrangement.

Under the FLCA, if a newly organized business and its employees can’t agree to a contract within 120 days of bargaining, a three-person government arbitration panel steps in and sets the terms for wages, benefits, and scheduling for two years. The employer doesn’t have a say. Workers don’t get to vote on the outcome. The panel simply decides, and everyone is bound by the arrangement. Thus, arbitrators who know nothing about the business before them could impose financially devastating employment conditions and run the business into the ground.

The implications are immense. When government arbitration becomes the backstop for every new labor dispute, the incentive for both sides to bargain disappears. Unions can run out the clock knowing that Washington will step in. That’s not the way labor negotiations should work.

Senator Roger Marshall has been a friend to Kansas small businesses throughout his time in office. Unfortunately, he has chosen to cosponsor this bill as the House sends it to the Senate. I’m asking him to take a closer look at the severe consequences it would have for Kansas workers and their employers.

Peach Madl,

Baldwin City