Josh Hawley Is Trying to Sell Unions to Republicans. It’s Not Working.

President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers this week are touting their “no tax on tips or overtime” policies, which won over working-class voters in 2024.

The president’s party, however, is fracturing over labor reforms that could bring organized labor further into their camp.

Sen. Josh Hawley — a populist Republican who has rankled conservatives and union organizers alike with his picket-line visits and labor policies — aims to put forward a slew of legislation based on his self-proclaimed “pro-worker framework.” The framework includes increasing civil penalties for employers who violate labor laws and banning required “captive audience” meetings, where employers discourage workers from organizing.

Hawley has also introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act, which requires employers to start negotiations for a first contract within 10 days of a union’s certification.

These policies are lifted from Democrats’ Protect the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, a comprehensive labor-reform bill that never came to a floor vote when Democrats controlled the Senate. Unions, from the Teamsters to the AFL-CIO to the United Food and Commercial Workers, say they are on board with the PRO Act and Hawley’s Faster Labor Contracts Act.

“There was just not a realistic path forward to the president’s desk for that bill as a whole,” said Sunshine McBride, the Teamsters’ federal legislative director, who added that the union worked with Hawley on turning the framework into legislation. “By doing the bills as standalones, we were creating more opportunities for Republicans to start to take those actions depending on where they fell on a continuum of support for labor.”

Hawley’s Republican colleagues are a tougher sell.

Hawley’s staff is in talks with Sen. Bill Cassidy’s staff to coordinate labor bills that would come before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, according to a former Republican congressional aide familiar with discussions.

Cassidy has said publicly that he is working to introduce the first comprehensive labor-reform package in nearly 100 years — an uphill battle in a Republican Party divided on the issue. But the bills he’s suggested putting forward are different from what Hawley is proposing and have been panned by unions like the AFL-CIO. They do have support, however, from business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The bills limit the kinds of claims that can be made to the National Labor Relations Board, and the ways the labor board can rule on such claims. Another ends voluntary recognition of unions and requires two-thirds of workers to participate in union elections, rather than a simple majority.

“Congress hasn’t updated our labor laws in nearly a century, even as our economy and the way Americans work have changed dramatically,” Stephen Lewerenz, the Senate HELP Committee’s majority-party spokesperson, told NOTUS in a statement. “Chairman Cassidy is committed to modernizing our labor laws to provide stability and certainty for workers, unions, and businesses alike.”

Among the Republicans on HELP, Hawley is outnumbered by libertarians like Sen. Rand Paul and traditional, pro-employer Republicans like Sens. Tim Scott and Tommy Tuberville. Hawley’s bills could pass the committee with Democrats’ support, but no bipartisan discussions have taken place yet.

When asked whether he would support the Faster Labor Contracts Act, Republican Sen. Jon Husted declined to answer the question directly.

“I have a great relationship creating jobs in Ohio and working with the trade unions and the Teamsters,” Husted, who is defending his seat in union-heavy Ohio, said. “I always have an open dialogue with them and always look forward to working with them on things that can help improve the economy and create jobs.”

When told that the Teamsters support the bill, Husted did not clarify his position.

“You can ask as many times, but I have told you what my view is,” he said.

A spokesperson with Hawley’s office reiterated his support for the legislation.

“Senator Hawley continues to believe that the Senate should pass his Faster Labor Contracts Act to protect workers as soon as possible,” they told NOTUS in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation is real labor reform that puts workers first.”

David Cleary, who served as the HELP Committee’s Republican staff director from 2013 to 2023, said the Faster Labor Contracts Act is unlikely to draw Republican votes other than from Hawley and Sen. Bernie Moreno, a co-sponsor. Hawley introduced the bill with Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, and Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Gary Peters were also original co-sponsors of the legislation.

“I don’t know that Republicans are super interested in going up against business on a bill like that because there’s no balance to that bill that forces the unions to give up anything on their end,” Cleary said. “With the language of the bill, the way that it’s written, unions can be unreasonable and win.”

Unions counter that the bill would help resolve a central issue to collective-bargaining efforts. They say employers drag their feet on negotiating first contracts with new unions, with ratification taking an average time of 465 days, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis. Starbucks Workers United, for example, has been in bargaining talks with the company since April 2024 without a first contract.

“You can get a loan, you can get a mortgage on your phone faster than you can get a first contract that gives you a grievance procedure and some set rules at your workplace,” said Roy Houseman, the legislative director at United Steelworkers.

Union organizers argue Republicans stand to benefit from pursuing labor reform seriously. Increasing the minimum wage and supporting collective bargaining so workers can negotiate their own wages fits right into an affordability agenda, said Jody Calemine, the advocacy director for the AFL-CIO.

“There’s a lot of focus on prices, but affordability has two sides,” Calemine said. “It’s both prices and wages.”

“It’s hard for the government to control prices, but it is a lot easier for the government to do things that will either directly increase wages” or indirectly increase them, he added.

Besides a few hearings on labor reform in October, there has been little public momentum for Hawley’s labor bills. McBride, the Teamsters’ legislative director, nevertheless has a positive outlook on the work being done behind the scenes.

“We are in a moment right now that’s really notable in terms of pro-labor Republicans coming together as a voting bloc and influencing the policy agenda,” McBride said.

Working-class voters, many of them union members, are at the center of Republicans’ sights this midterm cycle, as affordability concerns remain top of mind for most Americans. Trump has courted these voters with tax cuts, but much of the president’s working-class populism has not translated to supporting organized labor.

In March 2025, Trump removed collective-bargaining rights for 1 million federal workers, leading to a bipartisan discharge petition in Congress to overturn the executive order. A week into his second term, Trump fired NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, removing a quorum at the agency that adjudicates unfair labor-practice claims and conducts union elections.

Most recently, Trump on Monday nominated employment-side attorney and Department of Labor official James Macy to the NLRB, whose confirmation would expand the Republican majority and allow the board to overturn Biden-era worker privileges.