[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2980 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2980

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase the stability of 
  collective bargaining and to preserve job opportunities for workers 
            employed in the bituminous coal mining industry.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 6, 1993

 Mr. Murphy (for himself, Mr. Stark, Mr. Wise, Mr. Moran, Mr. Barlow, 
  Mr. Evans, Mr. Holden, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Rahall, Ms. Danner, Mr. 
   Andrews of New Jersey, Mr. Coyne, Mr. McCloskey, Mr. Kildee, Mr. 
 Applegate, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Costello, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Klink, 
  Ms. Woolsey, and Mr. Gene Green of Texas) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase the stability of 
  collective bargaining and to preserve job opportunities for workers 
            employed in the bituminous coal mining industry.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bituminous Coal Mining Industry 
Labor Law Amendment of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the production of bituminous coal involves, by its very 
        nature, the depletion of resources at work locations,
            (2) various mining arrangements and technological advances 
        in the last 20 years have adversely impacted on job security 
        for workers employed in the bituminous coal mining industry,
            (3) both workers and employers share the mutual goal of 
        mining coal safely and efficiently, and
            (4) the safe and efficient mining of coal can best be 
        achieved by the use of experienced miners who are knowledgeable 
        as to the industry's standards.

SEC. 3. SINGLE EMPLOYERS IN THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINING INDUSTRY.

    (a) Definition of Single Employer.--Section 2(2) of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(2)) is amended by adding at the end 
thereof the following: ``Any two or more business entities engaged 
primarily in the production of coal, including removal of overburden 
and coal waste, preparation, processing and cleaning of coal, and 
transportation of coal, repair and maintenance work normally performed 
at mine sites or at central shops of a mine site, and the maintenance 
of gob piles in mine roads, performing work covered by a collective 
bargaining agreement to which any of the entities is a party, 
performing the type of work described in such agreement, and having 
directly or indirectly substantial common ownership, substantial common 
management, or substantial common control shall be deemed a single 
employer. The terms and provisions of a contractor-subcontractor 
relationship between any 2 or more business entities working at a 
mining operation shall not be deemed to create a single employer or be 
considered as evidence of direct or indirect common management or 
control, within the meaning of the preceding sentence.''.
    (b) Concerning Scope of Duty to Bargain.--Section 8(d) of such Act 
(29 U.S.C. 158(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
``Whenever the collective bargaining involves employees of a business 
entity comprising part of a single employer in the bituminous coal 
mining industry, as defined in section 2(2) of this Act, the duty to 
bargain collectively, for the purposes of this section, shall include 
the duty to apply the terms of a collective bargaining agreement 
between such business entity and a labor organization to all other 
business entities comprising the single employer and performing the 
work described in the collective bargaining agreement. An agreement 
lawfully made pursuant to this subsection shall impose the same 
obligations under this Act as an agreement with the majority 
representative pursuant to section 9(a). Nothing in this subsection 
shall set aside the final proviso to subsection (a)(3) of this section. 
Any agreement which would be invalid, but for clause (1) of this 
subsection, shall not be a bar to a petition filed pursuant to section 
159(c) or section 159(e). Any agreement lawfully made pursuant to this 
subsection may be repudiated only after the Board certified the results 
of an election conducted pursuant to section 9(c), in which a majority 
of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit (as defined in section 
9(b)) either selects a bargaining representative other than the labor 
organization with which such agreement was made or chooses not to be 
represented by a labor organization.''.
    (c) Section 159 Representatives and Elections.--Section 9 of such 
Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended by inserting a new ``(1)'' after ``(b)'' 
and by adding at the end the following: ``A majority of the employees 
in a unit appropriate for such purposes shall also include a majority 
of employees working at any 2 or more business entities engaged 
primarily in the production of coal, including removal of overburden 
and coal waste, preparation, processing and cleaning of coal, and 
transportation for coal, repair and maintenance work normally performed 
at mine sites or at central shops of a mine site and the maintenance of 
gob piles in mine roads, performing work covered by a collective 
bargaining agreement to which any of the entities is a party, 
performing the type of work described in such agreement where 2 or more 
entities have either directly or indirectly (A) substantial common 
ownership, (B) substantial common management, or (C) substantial common 
control.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the 
amendments made by section 3 shall take effect upon the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Special Rules.--The requirement imposed by an amendment made by 
section 3(b) shall take effect--
            (1) one year after such date of enactment with respect to 
        any bituminous coal mining operation for which the contract was 
        entered into by an employer before the date of the enactment of 
        this Act; and
            (2) on the date on which the contract is entered into with 
        respect to any bituminous coal mining operation for which the 
        contract is entered into by an employer on or after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act.

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