I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3619

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system 

to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide 

for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2003

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. BISHOP

of New York, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. OWENS, Mr. GRIJALVA, 

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

TIERNEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. RYAN of 

Ohio, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. WU, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. KIND, 

Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. MATSUI, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. HOLDEN, 

Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SABO, Mr. MICHAUD, 

Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. PETERSON of 

Minnesota, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. BACA, Mr. DOYLE, Mrs. 

MALONEY, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 

HOEFFEL, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. 

HINCHEY, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. LYNCH, 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, 

Ms. DELAURO, Mr. NADLER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. UDALL of New 

Mexico, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. WEINER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. 

JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. STARK, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. DEUTSCH, Ms. LEE, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 

Florida, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. HASTINGS of 

Florida, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. 

PASCRELL, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. HONDA, 

and Mr. PASTOR) 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 establish 
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an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, 

or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory 

injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employee Free Choice 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING UNION CERTIFICATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(c) of the National 

8 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)) is amended by 

9 adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec11 tion, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an em12 ployee or group of employees or any individual or labor 

13 organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority 

14 of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of col15 lective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual 

16 or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall 

17 investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority 

18 of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has 

19 signed authorizations designating the individual or labor 

20 organization specified in the petition as their bargaining 

21 representative and that no other individual or labor orga22 nization is currently certified or recognized as the exclu-
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1 sive representative of any of the employees in the unit, 

2 the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the 

3 individual or labor organization as the representative de4 scribed in subsection (a). 

5 ‘‘(7) The Board shall develop guidelines and proce6 dures for the designation by employees of a bargaining 

7 representative in the manner described in paragraph (6). 

8 Such guidelines and procedures shall include—

9 ‘‘(A) model collective bargaining authorization 

10 language that may be used for purposes of making 

11 the designations described in paragraph (6); and 

12 ‘‘(B) procedures to be used by the Board to es13 tablish the authenticity of signed authorizations des14 ignating bargaining representatives.’’. 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

16 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.—Sec17 tion 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

18 U.S.C. 153(b)) is amended, in the second sentence—

19 (A) by striking ‘‘and to’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘to’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘and certify the results 

22 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘, and to issue certifi23 cations as provided for in that section,’’. 
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1 (2) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(b) 

2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

3 158(b)) is amended—

4 (A) in paragraph (7)(B) by striking ‘‘, or’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘or a petition has been filed 

6 under section 9(c)(6), or’’; and 

7 (B) in paragraph (7)(C) by striking ‘‘when 

8 such a petition has been filed’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘when such a petition other than a petition 

10 under section 9(c)(6) has been filed’’. 

11 SEC. 3. FACILITATING INITIAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

12 AGREEMENTS. 

13 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

14 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(h) Whenever collective bargaining is for the pur17 pose of establishing an initial agreement following certifi18 cation or recognition, the provisions of subsection (d) shall 

19 be modified as follows: 

20 ‘‘(1) Not later than 10 days after receiving a 

21 written request for collective bargaining from an in22 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 

23 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

24 in section 9(a), or within such further period as the 

25 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com-
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1 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

2 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

3 bargaining agreement. 

4 ‘‘(2) If after the expiration of the 90-day period 

5 beginning on the date on which bargaining is com6 menced, or such additional period as the parties may 

7 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

8 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me9 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

10 a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a 

11 request is received, it shall be the duty of the Service 

12 promptly to put itself in communication with the 

13 parties and to use its best efforts, by mediation and 

14 conciliation, to bring them to agreement. 

15 ‘‘(3) If after the expiration of the 30-day period 

16 beginning on the date on which the request for me17 diation is made under paragraph (2), or such addi18 tional period as the parties may agree upon, the 

19 Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement 

20 by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to 

21 an arbitration board established in accordance with 

22 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Serv23 ice. The arbitration panel shall render a decision set24 tling the dispute and such decision shall be binding 

25 upon the parties for a period of 2 years, unless 
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1 amended during such period by written consent of 

2 the parties.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT. 

4 (a) INJUNCTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR PRAC5 TICES DURING ORGANIZING DRIVES.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 10(l) of the National 

7 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(l)) is amend8 ed—

9 (A) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘If, 

10 after such’’ and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) If, after such’’; and 

12 (B) by striking the first sentence and in13 serting the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Whenever it is charged—

15 ‘‘(A) that any employer—

16 ‘‘(i) discharged or otherwise discriminated 

17 against an employee in violation of subsection 

18 (a)(3) of section 8; 

19 ‘‘(ii) threatened to discharge or to other20 wise discriminate against an employee in viola21 tion of subsection (a)(1) of section 8; or 

22 ‘‘(iii) engaged in any other unfair labor 

23 practice within the meaning of subsection (a)(1) 

24 that significantly interferes with, restrains, or 
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1 coerces employees in the exercise of the rights 

2 guaranteed in section 7; 

3 while employees of that employer were seeking rep4 resentation by a labor organization or during the pe5 riod after a labor organization was recognized as a 

6 representative defined in section 9(a) until the first 

7 collective bargaining contract is entered into between 

8 the employer and the representative; or 

9 ‘‘(B) that any person has engaged in an unfair 

10 labor practice within the meaning of subparagraph 

11 (A), (B) or (C) of section 8(b)(4), section 8(e), or 

12 section 8(b)(7); 

13 the preliminary investigation of such charge shall be made 

14 forthwith and given priority over all other cases except 

15 cases of like character in the office where it is filed or 

16 to which it is referred.’’. 

17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 10(m) 

18 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 

19 160(m)) is amended by inserting ‘‘under cir20 cumstances not subject to section 10(l)’’ after ‘‘sec21 tion 8’’. 

22 (b) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—

23 (1) BACKPAY.—Section 10(c) of the National 

24 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(c)) is amended 

25 by striking ‘‘And provided further,’’ and inserting 
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1 ‘‘Provided further, That if the Board finds that an 

2 employer has discriminated against an employee in 

3 violation of subsection (a)(3) of section 8 while em4 ployees of the employer were seeking representation 

5 by a labor organization, or during the period after 

6 a labor organization was recognized as a representa7 tive defined in subsection (a) of section 9 until the 

8 first collective bargaining contract was entered into 

9 between the employer and the representative, the 

10 Board in such order shall award the employee back 

11 pay and, in addition, 2 times that amount as liq12 uidated damages: Provided further,’’. 

13 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the Na14 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is 

15 amended—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘Any’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 

17 Any’’; and 

18 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(b) Any employer who willfully or repeatedly com20 mits any unfair labor practice within the meaning of sub21 sections (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 8 while employees of 

22 the employer are seeking representation by a labor organi23 zation or during the period after a labor organization has 

24 been recognized as a representative defined in subsection 

25 (a) of section 9 until the first collective bargaining con-
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1 tract is entered into between the employer and the rep2 resentative shall, in addition to any make-whole remedy 

3 ordered, be subject to a civil penalty of not to exceed 

4 $20,000 for each violation. In determining the amount of 

5 any penalty under this section, the Board shall consider 

6 the gravity of the unfair labor practice and the impact 

7 of the unfair labor practice on the charging party, on other 

8 persons seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this Act, 

9 or on the public interest.’’.

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