[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 972 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 972

   To amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure the right of 
 employees to a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor 
                            Relations Board.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2011

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure the right of 
 employees to a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor 
                            Relations Board.

    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 ``Secret Ballot Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the importance of a secret ballot election has been 
        recognized by the United States for over 100 years;
            (2) the fundamental democratic right to choose by secret 
        ballot is the only method that ensures a choice free of 
        coercion, intimidation, irregularity, or illegality;
            (3) the recognition of a labor organization by way of a 
        private agreement, rather than a secret ballot election 
        supervised by a neutral third party, threatens an employee's 
        right, codified in the National Labor Relations Act, to choose 
        whether or not to be represented by a labor organization; and
            (4) preserving workers' right to choose whether or not to 
        be represented by a labor organization through a secret ballot 
        election is important to the strength of the national economy.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT.

    (a) Recognition of Representative.--
            (1) In general.--Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor 
        Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)(2)) is amended by inserting 
        before the colon the following: ``or to recognize or bargain 
        collectively with a labor organization that has not been 
        selected by a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for 
        such purposes in a secret ballot election conducted by the 
        National Labor Relations Board in accordance with section 9''.
            (2) Application.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall 
        not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were 
        recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
    (b) Election Required.--
            (1) In general.--Section 8(b) of the National Labor 
        Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)), as amended by subsection (c) 
        of this section, is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (6);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (7) and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(8) to cause or attempt to cause an employer to recognize 
        or bargain collectively with a representative of a labor 
        organization that has not been selected by a majority of 
        employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes in a secret 
        ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board 
        in accordance with section 9.''.
            (2) Application.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall 
        not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were 
        recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Secret Ballot Election Required.--Section 9(a) of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a)), is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(a)'';
            (2) by inserting after ``designated or selected'' the 
        following: ``by a secret ballot election conducted by the 
        National Labor Relations Board in accordance with this 
        section''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) The secret ballot election requirement of paragraph 
        (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that 
        were recognized before the date of enactment of the Secret 
        Ballot Protection Act.''.
    (d) Conforming Amendments.--Section 9(c)(1) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
159(c)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``and that their 
                employer declines to recognize their representative as 
                the representative defined in section 9(a)'' and 
                inserting ``by a representative''; and
                    (B) in clause (ii), by striking ``section 9(a);'' 
                and inserting ``subsection (a),''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``alleging'' and all 
        that follows through ``defined in section 9(a)''.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act 
the National Labor Relations Board shall review and revise all 
regulations promulgated before such date to implement the amendments 
made in this Act to the National Labor Relations Act.
                                 <all>