[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H7990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TEAMWORK FOR EMPLOYEES AND MANAGERS ACT OF 1995

  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the 
Speaker's table the bill, H.R. 743, 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, with a Senate amendment thereto, and to 
concur in the Senate amendment.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The Clerk read the Senate amendment, as follows:

       Senate amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause 
     and insert:

     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 representatives 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.

  Mr. GOODLING (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate amendment be considered as read and printed in 
the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, I do so not 
because I will object, but because I would like the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Goodling], the chairman, to explain this measure to 
us.
  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MARTINEZ. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. GOODLING. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Speaker, for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1434 the TEAM Act, passed the House September 27 
last year and it recently passed the other body in the exact same form. 
Unfortunately, due to a procedural glitch during the other body's 
consideration, further action in the House is required before the bill 
can be presented to the President. The other body did not directly 
consider and pass H.R. 743 without amendment.
  Technically, they passed H.R. 743 with an amendment, even though the 
amendment was the exact text passed by the House. Since the House would 
be adopting the same language of the bill we already passed, this 
unanimous consent will hurdle this procedural disagreement between the 
two bodies.
  I rise in strong support of this legislation and I thank the 
gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the explanation.
  Mr. Speaker, although I oppose the bill and will continue to oppose 
the bill, I see no reason to rehash the same old debate.
  For that reason, Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the initial request of 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________