II 

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. 

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 Rights Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL LABOR RELA6 TIONS ACT. 

7 (a) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(b)(1) of 

8 the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)(1)) 

9 is amended by inserting ‘‘interfere with’’ before ‘‘restrain’’ 


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1 (b) REPRESENTATIVES AND ELECTIONS.—Section 9 

2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘designated or selected for 

6 the purposes of collective bargaining’’ and in7 serting ‘‘for the purposes of collective bar8 gaining selected by secret ballot in an election 

9 conducted by the Board,’’; and 

10 (B) by inserting before the period the fol11 lowing: ‘‘: Provided further, That, for purposes 

12 of determining the majority of the employees in 

13 a secret ballot election in a unit, the term ‘ma14 jority’ shall mean the majority of all the em15 ployees in the unit, and not the majority of em16 ployees voting in the election’’; and 

17 (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(3) Not later than 36 months after the initial certifi20 cation of a labor organization as the exclusive representa21 tive of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, and 

22 each 3-year period thereafter, a neutral, private organiza23 tion chosen by agreement between the employer and the 

24 labor organization involved, after a notice period of not 

25 less than 35 days, shall conduct a secret ballot election 


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1 among such employees to determine whether a majority 

2 desire to continue to be represented by such labor organi3 zation. The cost to the third party that is conducting the 

4 election shall be shared equally by the labor organization 

5 and the employer involved. The election shall be conducted 

6 without regard to the pendency of any unfair labor prac7 tice charge against the employer or the labor organization 

8 representative and the Board shall rule on any objections 

9 to the election pursuant to its established timeframes for 

10 resolving such matters. If a majority of the votes cast re11 ject the continuing representation by the labor organiza12 tion, the Board shall withdraw the labor organization’s 

13 certification.’’ 

14 (c) FAIR REPRESENTATION IN ELECTIONS.—Section 

15 9 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) 

16 is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘prior to an 

18 election’’ after ‘‘in each case’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (c)— 

20 (A) in the flush matter following para21 graph (1)(B)— 

22 (i) by inserting ‘‘of 14 days in ad23 vance’’ after ‘‘appropriate hearing upon 

24 due notice’’; 


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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and a review of 

2 post-hearing appeals,’’ after ‘‘the record of 

3 such hearing’’; and 

4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: ‘‘No election shall be conducted 

6 less than 40 calendar days following the 

7 filing of an election petition. The employer 

8 shall provide the Board a list of employee 

9 names and home addresses of all eligible 

10 voters within 7 days following the Board’s 

11 determination of the appropriate unit or 

12 following any agreement between the em13 ployer and the labor organization regard14 ing the eligible voters.’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(6)(A) No election shall take place after the filing 

17 of any petition unless and until— 

18 ‘‘(i) a hearing is conducted before a qualified 

19 hearing officer in accordance with due process on 

20 any and all material, factual issues regarding juris21 diction, statutory coverage, appropriate unit, unit in22 clusion or exclusion, or eligibility of individuals; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) the issues are resolved by a Regional Di24 rector, subject to appeal and review, or by the 

25 Board. 


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1 ‘‘(B) No election results shall be final and no labor 

2 organization shall be certified as the bargaining represent3 ative of the employees in an appropriate unit unless and 

4 until the Board has ruled on— 

5 ‘‘(i) each pre-election issue not resolved before 

6 the election; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) the Board conducts a hearing in accord8 ance with due process and resolves each issue per9 taining to the conduct or results of the election.’’ 

10 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 10 of the National Labor 

11 Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160) is amended by inserting 

12 after the second sentence following the second proviso, the 

13 following : ‘‘Any labor organization found to have inter14 fered with, restrained, or coerced employees in the exercise 

15 of their rights under section 7 to form or join a labor orga16 nization or to refrain therefrom, including the filing of a 

17 decertification petition, shall be liable for wages lost and 

18 union dues or fees collected unlawfully, if any, and an ad19 ditional amount as liquidated damages. Any labor organi20 zation found to have interfered with, restrained, or coerced 

21 an employee in connection with the filing of a decertifica22 tion petition shall be prohibited from filing objections to 

23 an election held pursuant to such petition.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT RE2 PORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1959. 

3 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 3(k) of the Labor-Man4 agement Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 

5 402(k)) is amended by striking ‘‘ballot, voting machine, 

6 or otherwise, but’’ and inserting ‘‘paper ballot, voting ma7 chine, or electronic ballot cast in the privacy of a voting 

8 booth and’’. 

9 (b) RIGHTS OF MEMBERS.—Section 101(a)(1) of the 

10 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 

11 (29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 

12 the following ‘‘Every employee in a bargaining unit rep13 resented by a labor organization, regardless of member14 ship status in the labor organization, shall have the same 

15 right as members to vote by secret ballot regarding wheth16 er to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with, or to 

17 engage in, a strike or refusal to work of any kind against 

18 their employer.’’. 

19 (c) RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE UNION NON20 REPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES.—Title I of the Labor21 Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 

22 U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

23 following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 106. RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE UNION NON2 REPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

3 ‘‘No employee’s union dues, fees, or assessments or 

4 other contributions shall be used or contributed to any 

5 person, organization, or entity for any purpose not directly 

6 germane to the labor organization’s collective bargaining 

7 or contract administration functions unless the member, 

8 or nonmember required to make such payments as a con9 dition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in writ10 ing, after a notice period of not less than 35 days. An 

11 initial authorization provided by an employee under the 

12 preceding sentence shall expire not later than 1 year after 

13 the date on which such authorization is signed by the em14 ployee. There shall be no automatic renewal of an author15 ization under this section.’’. 

16 (d) LIMITATIONS.—Section 101(a) of the Labor17 Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 

18 U.S.C. 411(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION.—No strike shall commence with21 out the consent of a majority of all employees affected, 

22 determined by a secret ballot vote conducted by a neutral, 

23 private organization chosen by agreement between the em24 ployer and the labor organization involved. In any case 

25 in which the employer involved has made an offer for a 

26 collective bargaining agreement, the employees involved 


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1 shall be provided with an opportunity for a secret ballot 

2 vote on such offer prior to any vote relating to the com3 mencement of a strike. The cost of any such election shall 

4 be borne by the labor organization.’’. 

5 (e) ACTS OF VIOLENCE.—Section 610 of the Labor6 Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 

7 U.S.C. 530) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘It shall’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) It 

9 shall’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(b) It shall be unlawful for any person, through the 

12 use of force or violence, or threat of the use of force or 

13 violence, to restrain, coerce, or intimidate, or attempt to 

14 restrain, coerce, or intimidate any person for the purpose 

15 of obtaining from any person any right to represent em16 ployees or any compensation or other term or condition 

17 of employment. Any person who willfully violates this sub18 section shall be fined not more than $100,000 or impris19 oned for not more than 10 years, or both. 

20 ‘‘(c) The lawfulness of a labor organization’s objec21 tives shall not remove or exempt from the definition of 

22 extortion conduct by the labor organization or its agents 

23 that otherwise constitutes extortion as defined by section 


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1 1951(b)(2) of title 18, United States Code, from the defi2 nition of extortion.’’. 

Æ 


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