[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3094 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3094

       To amend the National Labor Relations Act with respect to 
     representation hearings and the timing of elections of labor 
                     organizations under that Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 5, 2011

 Mr. Kline (for himself, Mr. McKeon, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Ms. 
 Foxx, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Roe of Tennessee, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, 
 Mr. Walberg, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Rokita, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Gowdy, Mrs. 
  Roby, Mr. Ross of Florida, and Mr. Kelly) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To amend the National Labor Relations Act with respect to 
     representation hearings and the timing of elections of labor 
                     organizations under that Act.

    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 ``Workforce Democracy and Fairness 
Act''.

SEC. 2. TIMING OF ELECTIONS.

    Section 9 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (b) by striking the first sentence and 
        inserting the following: ``In each case, prior to an election, 
        the Board shall determine, in order to assure to employees the 
        fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this 
        Act, the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective 
        bargaining. Unless otherwise stated in this Act, the unit 
        appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining shall consist 
        of employees that share a sufficient community of interest. In 
        determining whether employees share a sufficient community of 
        interest, the Board shall consider (1) similarity of wages, 
        benefits, and working conditions; (2) similarity of skills and 
        training; (3) centrality of management and common supervision; 
        (4) extent of interchange and frequency of contact between 
        employees; (5) integration of the work flow and 
        interrelationship of the production process; (6) the 
        consistency of the unit with the employer's organizational 
        structure; (7) similarity of job functions and work; and (8) 
        the bargaining history in the particular unit and the industry. 
        To avoid the proliferation or fragmentation of bargaining 
        units, employees shall not be excluded from the unit unless the 
        interests of the group sought are sufficiently distinct from 
        those of other employees to warrant the establishment of a 
        separate unit. Whether additional employees should be included 
        in a proposed unit shall be based on whether such additional 
        employees and proposed unit members share a sufficient 
        community of interest, with the sole exception of proposed 
        accretions to an existing unit, in which the inclusion of 
        additional employees shall be based on whether such additional 
        employees and existing unit members share an overwhelming 
        community of interest and the additional employees have little 
        or no separate identity.''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)(1) in the matter following 
        subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, but in no circumstances less 
                than 14 calendar days after the filing of the 
                petition'' after ``hearing upon due notice'';
                    (B) by inserting before the last sentence the 
                following: ``An appropriate hearing shall be one that 
                is non-adversarial with the hearing officer charged, in 
                collaboration with the parties, with the responsibility 
                of identifying any pre-election issues and thereafter 
                making a full record thereon. Pre-election issues shall 
                include, in addition to unit appropriateness, the 
                Board's jurisdiction and any other issue the resolution 
                of which may make an election unnecessary or which may 
                reasonably be expected to impact the election's 
                outcome. Parties may raise independently any issue or 
                assert any position at any time prior to the close of 
                the hearing.'';
                    (C) in the last sentence--
                            (i) by inserting ``and a review of post-
                        hearing appeals'' after ``record of such a 
                        hearing''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``to be conducted as soon 
                        as practicable but not less than 35 calendar 
                        days following the filing of an election 
                        petition'' after ``election by secret ballot''; 
                        and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following: ``Not 
                earlier than 7 days after final determination by the 
                Board of the appropriate bargaining unit, the Board 
                shall acquire from the employer a list of all eligible 
                voters to be made available to all parties, which shall 
                include the employee names, and one additional form of 
                personal employee contact information (such as 
                telephone number, email address or mailing address) 
                chosen by the employee in writing.''.
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