[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 743 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.743

                       One Hundred Fourth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
   the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six


                                 An Act


 
  To amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow labor management 
cooperative efforts that improve economic competitiveness in the United 
          States to continue to thrive, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Teamwork for Employees and Managers 
Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
        (1) the escalating demands of global competition have compelled 
    an increasing number of employers in the United States to make 
    dramatic changes in workplace and employer-employee relationships;
        (2) such changes involve an enhanced role for the employee in 
    workplace decisionmaking, often referred to as ``Employee 
    Involvement'', which has taken many forms, including self-managed 
    work teams, quality-of-worklife, quality circles, and joint labor-
    management committees;
        (3) Employee Involvement programs, which operate successfully 
    in both unionized and nonunionized settings, have been established 
    by over 80 percent of the largest employers in the United States 
    and exist in an estimated 30,000 workplaces;
        (4) in addition to enhancing the productivity and 
    competitiveness of businesses in the United States, Employee 
    Involvement programs have had a positive impact on the lives of 
    such employees, better enabling them to reach their potential in 
    the workforce;
        (5) recognizing that foreign competitors have successfully 
    utilized Employee Involvement techniques, the Congress has 
    consistently joined business, labor and academic leaders in 
    encouraging and recognizing successful Employee Involvement 
    programs in the workplace through such incentives as the Malcolm 
    Baldrige National Quality Award;
        (6) employers who have instituted legitimate Employee 
    Involvement programs have not done so to interfere with the 
    collective bargaining rights guaranteed by the labor laws, as was 
    the case in the 1930's when employers established deceptive sham 
    ``company unions'' to avoid unionization; and
        (7) Employee Involvement is currently threatened by legal 
    interpretations of the prohibition against employer-dominated 
    ``company unions''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purpose of this Act is--
        (1) to protect legitimate Employee Involvement programs against 
    governmental interference;
        (2) to preserve existing protections against deceptive, 
    coercive employer practices; and
        (3) to allow legitimate Employee Involvement programs, in which 
    workers may discuss issues involving terms and conditions of 
    employment, to continue to evolve and proliferate.

SEC. 3. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION.

    Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act is amended by 
striking the semicolon and inserting the following: ``: Provided 
further, That it shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor 
practice under this paragraph for an employer to establish, assist, 
maintain, or participate in any organization or entity of any kind, in 
which employees who participate to at least the same extent practicable 
as representatives of management participate, to address matters of 
mutual interest, including, but not limited to, issues of quality, 
productivity, efficiency, and safety and health, and which does not 
have, claim, or seek authority to be the exclusive bargaining 
representative of the employees or to negotiate or enter into 
collective bargaining agreements with the employer or to amend existing 
collective bargaining agreements between the employer and any labor 
organization, except that in a case in which a labor organization is 
the representative of such employees as provided in section 9(a), this 
proviso shall not apply;''.

SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON EFFECT OF ACT.

    Nothing in this Act shall affect employee rights and 
responsibilities contained in provisions other than section 8(a)(2) of 
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.