I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1355 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to require employers to provide 

labor organizations with equal access to employees prior to an election 

regarding representation, to prevent delays in initial collective bargaining, 

and to strengthen enforcement against intimidation of employees by 

employers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2009 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to require employers to provide labor organizations with equal access 

to employees prior to an election regarding representation, to prevent delays in initial collective bargaining, 

and to strengthen enforcement against intimidation of 

employees by employers. 

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 ‘‘National Labor Rela5 tions Modernization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PREVENTING EXCESSIVE DELAYS IN INITIAL COL2 LECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS. 

3 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

4 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(h) Whenever collective bargaining is for the pur7 pose of establishing an initial agreement following certifi8 cation or recognition, the provisions of subsection (d) shall 

9 be modified as follows with respect to any employer having 

10 20 or more employees: 

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

12 written request for collective bargaining from an in13 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 

14 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

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

16 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com17 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

18 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

19 bargaining agreement. 

20 ‘‘(2) If after the expiration of the 120-day pe21 riod beginning on the date on which bargaining is 

22 commenced, or such other period as the parties may 

23 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

24 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me25 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

26 a dispute and request the appointment of an arbitraVerDate Nov 24 2008 20:13 Mar 09, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355

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1 tion panel. Whenever such a request is received, the 

2 Service shall promptly appoint an arbitration panel 

3 which will use its best efforts, by mediation and con4 ciliation, to bring the parties to agreement. 

5 ‘‘(3) If after the expiration of the 120-day pe6 riod beginning on the date on which the request for 

7 mediation is made under paragraph (2), or such 

8 other period as the parties may agree upon, the arbi9 tration panel appointed under paragraph (2) is not 

10 able to bring the parties to agreement by mediation 

11 and conciliation, the such panel shall then begin to 

12 arbitrate the dispute in accordance with such regula13 tions as may be prescribed by the Service. Such 

14 panel shall render a decision settling the dispute not 

15 later than 30 days after commencing arbitration and 

16 such decision shall be binding upon the parties for 

17 a period of 18 months, unless amended during such 

18 period by written consent of the parties.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT AGAINST INTIMI20 DATION OF WORKERS. 

21 (a) INJUNCTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR PRAC22 TICES DURING ORGANIZING DRIVES.— 

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

24 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(l)) is amend25 ed— 


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

2 after such’’ and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) If, after such’’; and 

4 (B) by striking the first sentence and in5 serting the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Whenever it is charged— 

7 ‘‘(A) that any employer— 

8 ‘‘(i) discharged or otherwise discriminated 

9 against an employee in violation of subsection 

10 (a)(3) of section 8; 

11 ‘‘(ii) threatened to discharge or to other12 wise discriminate against an employee in viola13 tion of subsection (a)(1) of section 8; or 

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

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

16 that significantly interferes with, restrains, or 

17 coerces employees in the exercise of the rights 

18 guaranteed in section 7; 

19 while employees of that employer were seeking rep20 resentation by a labor organization or during the pe21 riod after a labor organization was recognized as a 

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

23 collective bargaining contract is entered into between 

24 the employer and the representative; or 


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

2 labor practice within the meaning of subparagraph 

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

4 section 8(b)(7); 

5 the preliminary investigation of such charge shall be made 

6 forthwith and given priority over all other cases except 

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

8 to which it is referred.’’. 

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

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

11 160(m)) is amended by inserting ‘‘under cir12 cumstances not subject to section 10(l)’’ after ‘‘sec13 tion 8’’. 

14 (b) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.— 

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

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

17 by striking ‘‘And provided further,’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘Provided further, That if the Board finds that an 

19 employer has discriminated against an employee in 

20 violation of subsection (a)(3) of section 8 while em21 ployees of the employer were seeking representation 

22 by a labor organization, or during the period after 

23 a labor organization was recognized as a representa24 tive defined in subsection (a) of section 9 until the 

25 first collective bargaining contract was entered into 


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1 between the employer and the representative, the 

2 Board in such order shall award the employee back 

3 pay and, in addition, 2 times that amount as liq4 uidated damages: Provided further,’’. 

5 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the Na6 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is 

7 amended— 

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

9 Any’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(b) Any employer who willfully or repeatedly com12 mits any unfair labor practice within the meaning of sub13 sections (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 8 while employees of 

14 the employer are seeking representation by a labor organi15 zation or during the period after a labor organization has 

16 been recognized as a representative defined in subsection 

17 (a) of section 9 until the first collective bargaining con18 tract is entered into between the employer and the rep19 resentative shall, in addition to any make-whole remedy 

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

21 $20,000 for each violation. In determining the amount of 

22 any penalty under this section, the Board shall consider 

23 the gravity of the unfair labor practice and the impact 

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


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1 persons seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this Act, 

2 or on the public interest.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. EQUAL ACCESS TO LABOR ORGANIZATIONS PRIOR 

4 TO ELECTIONS. 

5 (a) EQUAL ACCESS.—Section 9 of the National 

6 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(f)(1) Not later than 30 days after the Board shall 

9 have directed an election, the employer shall notify the 

10 representative designated by the employees under sub11 section (a) of any activities the employer intends to engage 

12 in to campaign in opposition to recognition of the rep13 resentative, including any meetings with individual em14 ployees or groups of employees, any announcements to em15 ployees, any signs to be displayed at the place of employ16 ment, and any literature to be distributed to employees, 

17 and shall provide the representative with equal access to 

18 the place of employment to campaign in favor of recogni19 tion of the representative, including the opportunity to 

20 hold an equal number of meetings with individual employ21 ees or groups of employees, and an opportunity to make 

22 announcements, display signs, and distribute literature, 

23 under the same terms and conditions that the employer 

24 engages in such activities. 


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1 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘campaign’ 

2 means any activity undertaken to persuade employees to 

3 vote for or against representation in an election directed 

4 by the Board, but shall not include any interference with, 

5 restraint or coercion of, or discrimination against employ6 ees in violation of paragraphs (1) through (3) of section 

7 8(a).’’. 

8 (b) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE.—Section 8(a) of the 

9 National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and 

12 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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

14 ‘‘(6) to fail to provide the notification and equal 

15 access to a representative as required by section 

16 9(f).’’. 

Æ 


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