[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1507 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1507

   To provide protections for workers with respect to their right to 
      select or refrain from selecting representation by a labor 
                             organization.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 2, 2011

     Mr. Hatch (for himself, Mr. Burr, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Graham) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide protections for workers with respect to their right to 
      select or refrain from selecting representation by a labor 
                             organization.

    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 ``Employee Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT.

    (a) Unfair Labor Practices.--Section 8(b)(1) of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)(1)) is amended by inserting ``interfere 
with'' before ``restrain''
    (b) Representatives and Elections.--Section 9 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``designated or selected for the 
                purposes of collective bargaining'' and inserting ``for 
                the purposes of collective bargaining selected by 
                secret ballot in an election conducted by the Board,''; 
                and
                    (B) by inserting before the period the following: 
                ``: Provided further, That, for purposes of determining 
                the majority of the employees in a secret ballot 
                election in a unit, the term `majority' shall mean the 
                majority of all the employees in the unit, and not the 
                majority of employees voting in the election''; and
            (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) Not later than 36 months after the initial certification of a 
labor organization as the exclusive representative of employees in an 
appropriate bargaining unit, and each 3-year period thereafter, a 
neutral, private organization chosen by agreement between the employer 
and the labor organization involved, after a notice period of not less 
than 35 days, shall conduct a secret ballot election among such 
employees to determine whether a majority desire to continue to be 
represented by such labor organization. The cost to the third party 
that is conducting the election shall be shared equally by the labor 
organization and the employer involved. The election shall be conducted 
without regard to the pendency of any unfair labor practice charge 
against the employer or the labor organization representative and the 
Board shall rule on any objections to the election pursuant to its 
established timeframes for resolving such matters. If a majority of the 
votes cast reject the continuing representation by the labor 
organization, the Board shall withdraw the labor organization's 
certification.''
    (c) Fair Representation in Elections.--Section 9 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ``prior to an 
        election'' after ``in each case''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the flush matter following paragraph 
                (1)(B)--
                            (i) by inserting ``of 14 days in advance'' 
                        after ``appropriate hearing upon due notice'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``, and a review of post-
                        hearing appeals,'' after ``the record of such 
                        hearing''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following: 
                        ``No election shall be conducted less than 40 
                        calendar days following the filing of an 
                        election petition. The employer shall provide 
                        the Board a list of employee names and home 
                        addresses of all eligible voters within 7 days 
                        following the Board's determination of the 
                        appropriate unit or following any agreement 
                        between the employer and the labor organization 
                        regarding the eligible voters.''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(6)(A) No election shall take place after the filing of any 
petition unless and until--
            ``(i) a hearing is conducted before a qualified hearing 
        officer in accordance with due process on any and all material, 
        factual issues regarding jurisdiction, statutory coverage, 
        appropriate unit, unit inclusion or exclusion, or eligibility 
        of individuals; and
            ``(ii) the issues are resolved by a Regional Director, 
        subject to appeal and review, or by the Board.
    ``(B) No election results shall be final and no labor organization 
shall be certified as the bargaining representative of the employees in 
an appropriate unit unless and until the Board has ruled on--
            ``(i) each pre-election issue not resolved before the 
        election; and
            ``(ii) the Board conducts a hearing in accordance with due 
        process and resolves each issue pertaining to the conduct or 
        results of the election.''
    (d) Penalties.--Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 160) is amended by inserting after the second sentence following 
the second proviso, the following : ``Any labor organization found to 
have interfered with, restrained, or coerced employees in the exercise 
of their rights under section 7 to form or join a labor organization or 
to refrain therefrom, including the filing of a decertification 
petition, shall be liable for wages lost and union dues or fees 
collected unlawfully, if any, and an additional amount as liquidated 
damages. Any labor organization found to have interfered with, 
restrained, or coerced an employee in connection with the filing of a 
decertification petition shall be prohibited from filing objections to 
an election held pursuant to such petition.''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT 
              OF 1959.

    (a) Definition.--Section 3(k) of the Labor-Management Reporting and 
Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 402(k)) is amended by striking 
``ballot, voting machine, or otherwise, but'' and inserting ``paper 
ballot, voting machine, or electronic ballot cast in the privacy of a 
voting booth and''.
    (b) Rights of Members.--Section 101(a)(1) of the Labor-Management 
Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following ``Every employee in a bargaining 
unit represented by a labor organization, regardless of membership 
status in the labor organization, shall have the same right as members 
to vote by secret ballot regarding whether to ratify a collective 
bargaining agreement with, or to engage in, a strike or refusal to work 
of any kind against their employer.''.
    (c) Right Not To Subsidize Union Nonrepresentational Activities.--
Title I of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 
(29 U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 106. RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE UNION NONREPRESENTATIONAL 
              ACTIVITIES.

    ``No employee's union dues, fees, or assessments or other 
contributions shall be used or contributed to any person, organization, 
or entity for any purpose not directly germane to the labor 
organization's collective bargaining or contract administration 
functions unless the member, or nonmember required to make such 
payments as a condition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in 
writing, after a notice period of not less than 35 days. An initial 
authorization provided by an employee under the preceding sentence 
shall expire not later than 1 year after the date on which such 
authorization is signed by the employee. There shall be no automatic 
renewal of an authorization under this section.''.
    (d) Limitations.--Section 101(a) of the Labor-Management Reporting 
and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411(a)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
    ``(6) Limitation.--No strike shall commence without the consent of 
a majority of all employees affected, determined by a secret ballot 
vote conducted by a neutral, private organization chosen by agreement 
between the employer and the labor organization involved. In any case 
in which the employer involved has made an offer for a collective 
bargaining agreement, the employees involved shall be provided with an 
opportunity for a secret ballot vote on such offer prior to any vote 
relating to the commencement of a strike. The cost of any such election 
shall be borne by the labor organization.''.
    (e) Acts of Violence.--Section 610 of the Labor-Management 
Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 530) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``It shall'' and inserting ``(a) It 
        shall''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) It shall be unlawful for any person, through the use of force 
or violence, or threat of the use of force or violence, to restrain, 
coerce, or intimidate, or attempt to restrain, coerce, or intimidate 
any person for the purpose of obtaining from any person any right to 
represent employees or any compensation or other term or condition of 
employment. Any person who willfully violates this subsection shall be 
fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, 
or both.
    ``(c) The lawfulness of a labor organization's objectives shall not 
remove or exempt from the definition of extortion conduct by the labor 
organization or its agents that otherwise constitutes extortion as 
defined by section 1951(b)(2) of title 18, United States Code, from the 
definition of extortion.''.
                                 <all>