I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2980

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase the stability of

collective bargaining and to preserve job opportunities for workers employed in the bituminous coal mining industry.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 6, 1993

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. STARK, Mr. WISE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. BARLOW,

Mr. EVANS, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. RAHALL, Ms. DANNER,

Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey, Mr. COYNE, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. APPLEGATE, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. KLINK, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase

the stability of collective bargaining and to preserve job

opportunities for workers employed in the bituminous

coal mining industry.

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 ‘‘Bituminous Coal Min5 ing Industry Labor Law Amendment of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) the production of bituminous coal involves,

4 by its very nature, the depletion of resources at work

5 locations,

6 (2) various mining arrangements and techno7 logical advances in the last 20 years have adversely

8 impacted on job security for workers employed in the

9 bituminous coal mining industry,

10 (3) both workers and employers share the mu11 tual goal of mining coal safely and efficiently, and

12 (4) the safe and efficient mining of coal can

13 best be achieved by the use of experienced miners

14 who are knowledgeable as to the industry’s stand15 ards.

16 SEC. 3. SINGLE EMPLOYERS IN THE BITUMINOUS COAL

17 MINING INDUSTRY.

18 (a) DEFINITION OF SINGLE EMPLOYER.—Section

19 2(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.

20 152(2)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol21 lowing: ‘‘Any two or more business entities engaged pri22 marily in the production of coal, including removal of over23 burden and coal waste, preparation, processing and clean24 ing of coal, and transportation of coal, repair and mainte25 nance work normally performed at mine sites or at central

26 shops of a mine site, and the maintenance of gob piles
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1 in mine roads, performing work covered by a collective

2 bargaining agreement to which any of the entities is a

3 party, performing the type of work described in such

4 agreement, and having directly or indirectly substantial

5 common ownership, substantial common management, or

6 substantial common control shall be deemed a single em7 ployer. The terms and provisions of a contractor-sub8 contractor relationship between any 2 or more business

9 entities working at a mining operation shall not be deemed

10 to create a single employer or be considered as evidence

11 of direct or indirect common management or control, with12 in the meaning of the preceding sentence.’’.

13 (b) CONCERNING SCOPE OF DUTY TO BARGAIN.—

14 Section 8(d) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 158(d)) is amended

15 by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Whenever the collec16 tive bargaining involves employees of a business entity

17 comprising part of a single employer in the bituminous

18 coal mining industry, as defined in section 2(2) of this

19 Act, the duty to bargain collectively, for the purposes of

20 this section, shall include the duty to apply the terms of

21 a collective bargaining agreement between such business

22 entity and a labor organization to all other business enti23 ties comprising the single employer and performing the

24 work described in the collective bargaining agreement. An

25 agreement lawfully made pursuant to this subsection shall
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1 impose the same obligations under this Act as an agree2 ment with the majority representative pursuant to section

3 9(a). Nothing in this subsection shall set aside the final

4 proviso to subsection (a)(3) of this section. Any agreement

5 which would be invalid, but for clause (1) of this sub6 section, shall not be a bar to a petition filed pursuant to

7 section 159(c) or section 159(e). Any agreement lawfully

8 made pursuant to this subsection may be repudiated only

9 after the Board certified the results of an election con10 ducted pursuant to section 9(c), in which a majority of

11 employees in an appropriate bargaining unit (as defined

12 in section 9(b)) either selects a bargaining representative

13 other than the labor organization with which such agree14 ment was made or chooses not to be represented by a labor

15 organization.’’.

16 (c) SECTION 159 REPRESENTATIVES AND ELEC17 TIONS.—Section 9 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amend18 ed by inserting a new ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’ and by adding

19 at the end the following: ‘‘A majority of the employees in

20 a unit appropriate for such purposes shall also include a

21 majority of employees working at any 2 or more business

22 entities engaged primarily in the production of coal, in23 cluding removal of overburden and coal waste, prepara24 tion, processing and cleaning of coal, and transportation

25 for coal, repair and maintenance work normally performed
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1 at mine sites or at central shops of a mine site and the

2 maintenance of gob piles in mine roads, performing work

3 covered by a collective bargaining agreement to which any

4 of the entities is a party, performing the type of work de5 scribed in such agreement where 2 or more entities have

6 either directly or indirectly (A) substantial common owner7 ship, (B) substantial common management, or (C) sub8 stantial common control.

9 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

11 (b), the amendments made by section 3 shall take effect

12 upon the date of the enactment of this Act.

13 (b) SPECIAL RULES.—The requirement imposed by

14 an amendment made by section 3(b) shall take effect—

15 (1) one year after such date of enactment with

16 respect to any bituminous coal mining operation for

17 which the contract was entered into by an employer

18 before the date of the enactment of this Act; and

19 (2) on the date on which the contract is entered

20 into with respect to any bituminous coal mining op21 eration for which the contract is entered into by an

22 employer on or after the date of the enactment of

23 this Act.

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