[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5886 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5886

 To amend the Railway Labor Act to apply the provisions of such Act to 
  maritime employers and employees in the maritime industry, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 4, 2021

  Mrs. Steel (for herself and Mr. Grothman) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Railway Labor Act to apply the provisions of such Act to 
  maritime employers and employees in the maritime industry, 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 ``Safeguarding the Supply Chain Act''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF RAILWAY LABOR ACT TO MARITIME EMPLOYERS AND 
              EMPLOYEES IN THE MARITIME INDUSTRY.

    The Railway Labor Act is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

   ``TITLE III--COVERAGE OF MARITIME EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYEES IN THE 
                           MARITIME INDUSTRY

``SEC. 301. COVERAGE OF MARITIME EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES.

    ``All of the provisions of title I of this Act, except the 
provisions of section 3 thereof, are extended to and shall cover every 
maritime employer and every employee of a maritime employer, subject to 
its continuing authority to supervise and direct the manner of 
rendition of the employee's service.

``SEC. 302. APPLICATION OF PROVISIONS.

    ``The duties, requirements, penalties, benefits, and privileges 
prescribed and established by the provisions of title I of this Act, 
except the provisions of section 3 thereof, shall apply to maritime 
employers and their employees in the same manner and to the same extent 
as though such maritime employers and their employees were specifically 
included within the definition of `carrier' and `employee', 
respectively, in section 1 thereof.

``SEC. 303. NATIONAL MEDIATION BOARD.

    ``(a) In General.--The parties or either party to a dispute between 
an employee or a group of such employees and a maritime employer or 
employers may invoke the services of the National Mediation Board and 
the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board is extended to any of 
the following cases:
            ``(1) A dispute concerning changes in rates of pay, rules, 
        or working conditions not adjusted by the parties in 
        conference.
            ``(2) Any other dispute not referable to an adjustment 
        board, as described in section 304(b), and not adjusted in 
        conference between the parties, or where conferences are 
        refused.
    ``(b) Labor Emergencies.--The National Mediation Board may proffer 
its services in case any labor emergency is found by it to exist at any 
time.
    ``(c) Invocation in Disputes.--The services of the National 
Mediation Board may be invoked in a case under this title in the same 
manner and to the same extent as are the disputes covered by section 5 
of title I of this Act.

``SEC. 304. BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT.

    ``(a) Treatment of Pending Disputes.--The disputes between an 
employee or a group of employees and a maritime employer or employers 
growing out of grievances, or out of the interpretation or application 
of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, 
including cases pending and unadjusted on the date of enactment of this 
title before the National Labor Relations Board, shall be handled in 
the usual manner up to and including the chief operating officer of the 
maritime employer designated to handle such disputes; but, failing to 
reach an adjustment in this manner, the disputes may be referred by 
petition of the parties or by either party to an appropriate adjustment 
board, as described in subsection (b), with a full statement of the 
facts and supporting data bearing upon the disputes.
    ``(b) Establishment of Special Boards of Adjustment.--It shall be 
the duty of every maritime employer and its employees, acting through 
their representatives, selected in accordance with the provisions of 
this title, to establish a board of adjustment of jurisdiction not 
exceeding the jurisdiction which may be lawfully exercised by system, 
group, or regional boards of adjustment, under the authority of section 
3.
    ``(c) Authority To Establish a Temporary National Board of 
Adjustment.--Such boards of adjustment may be established by agreement 
between employees and maritime employers either on any individual 
maritime employer, or system, or group of maritime employers and any 
class or classes of its or their employees; or pending the 
establishment of a permanent National Board of Adjustment in accordance 
with this title. Nothing in this Act shall prevent such maritime 
employers, or any class or classes of their employees, both acting 
through their representatives selected in accordance with provisions of 
this title, from mutually agreeing to the establishment of a national 
board of adjustment of temporary duration and of similarly limited 
jurisdiction.

``SEC. 305. NATIONAL MARITIME ADJUSTMENT BOARD.

    ``(a) Establishment.--When, in the judgment of the National 
Mediation Board, it shall be necessary to have a permanent National 
Board of Adjustment in order to provide for the prompt and orderly 
settlement of disputes between maritime employers and their employees, 
growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application 
of agreements between maritime employers and any class or classes of 
employees, covering rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, the 
National Mediation Board is hereby empowered and directed, by its order 
duly made, published, and served, to direct such maritime employers and 
such labor organizations of their employees, national in scope, as have 
been or may be recognized in accordance with the provisions of this 
Act, to select and designate four representatives who shall constitute 
a board which shall be known as the `National Maritime Adjustment 
Board'.
    ``(b) Selection of Members.--Two members of the National Maritime 
Adjustment Board shall be selected by maritime employers and two 
members by the labor organizations of the employees, within thirty days 
after the date of the order of the National Mediation Board, in the 
manner and by the procedure prescribed by title I of this Act for the 
selection and designation of members of the National Railroad 
Adjustment Board.
    ``(c) Meetings and Rules for Proceedings.--The National Maritime 
Adjustment Board shall meet within forty days after the date of the 
order of the National Mediation Board directing the selection and 
designation of its members and shall organize and adopt rules for 
conducting its proceedings, in the manner prescribed in section 3.
    ``(d) Vacancies; Compensation; Hearings.--Vacancies in membership 
or office shall be filled, members shall be appointed in case of 
failure of the maritime employers or of labor organizations of the 
employees to select and designate representatives, members of the 
National Maritime Adjustment Board shall be compensated, hearings shall 
be held, findings and awards made, stated, served, and enforced, and 
the number and compensation of any necessary assistants shall be 
determined and the compensation of such employees shall be paid, all in 
the same manner and to the same extent as provided with reference to 
the National Railroad Adjustment Board by section 3.
    ``(e) Powers and Duties.--The powers and duties prescribed and 
established by the provisions of section 3 with reference to the 
National Railroad Adjustment Board and the several divisions thereof 
are hereby conferred upon and shall be exercised and performed in like 
manner and to the same extent by the National Maritime Adjustment 
Board, not exceeding, however, the jurisdiction conferred upon the 
National Maritime Adjustment Board by the provisions of this title.
    ``(f) Transfers of Jurisdiction.--From and after the organization 
of the National Maritime Adjustment Board, if any system, group, or 
regional board of adjustment established by any maritime employer or 
employers and any class or classes of its or their employees is not 
satisfactory to either party thereto, such party, upon ninety days' 
notice to the other party, may elect to come under the jurisdiction of 
the National Maritime Adjustment Board.

``SEC. 306. CASES PENDING IN THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.

    ``All cases referred to the National Labor Relations Board, or over 
which the National Labor Relations Board shall have taken jurisdiction, 
involving any dispute arising from any cause between any maritime 
employer engaged in interstate or foreign commerce and employees of 
such maritime employer or employers, and unsettled on the date of 
enactment of this title, shall be handled to conclusion by the National 
Mediation Board. The books, records, and papers of the National Labor 
Relations Board pertinent to such case or cases, whether settled or 
unsettled, shall be transferred to the custody of the National 
Mediation Board.

``SEC. 307. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary for expenditure by the Mediation Board in carrying out the 
provisions of this Act.

``SEC. 308. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title:
            ``(1) The term `maritime employer' has the meaning given 
        the term `employer' in section 2(4) of the Longshore and Harbor 
        Workers' Compensation Act.
            ``(2) The term `employee' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 2(3) of such Act.''.
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