II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2142 

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

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

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 6, 2015 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. 

WARREN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. LEAHY, 

and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish 

an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, 

or assist labor organizations, 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 ‘‘Workplace Democracy 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING CERTIFICATION FOR LABOR ORGA2 NIZATIONS. 

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

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

5 adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec7 tion, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an em8 ployee or group of employees or any individual or labor 

9 organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority 

10 of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of col11 lective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual 

12 or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall 

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

14 of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has 

15 signed valid authorizations designating the individual or 

16 labor organization specified in the petition as their bar17 gaining representative and that no other individual or 

18 labor organization is currently certified or recognized as 

19 the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the 

20 unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify 

21 the individual or labor organization as the representative 

22 described in subsection (a). 

23 ‘‘(7) The Board shall develop guidelines and proce24 dures for the designation by employees of a bargaining 

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

26 Such guidelines and procedures shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) model collective bargaining authorization 

2 language that may be used for purposes of making 

3 the designations described in paragraph (6); and 

4 ‘‘(B) procedures to be used by the Board to es5 tablish the validity of signed authorizations desig6 nating bargaining representatives.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.—Sec9 tion 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

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

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

12 ‘‘to’’; and 

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

14 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘, and to issue certifi15 cations as provided for in that section,’’. 

16 (2) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(b) 

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

18 158(b)) is amended— 

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

20 and inserting ‘‘or a petition has been filed 

21 under section 9(c)(6), or’’; and 

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

23 such a petition has been filed’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘when such a petition other than a petition 

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


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1 SEC. 3. FACILITATING INITIAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

2 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: 

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

11 written request for collective bargaining from an in12 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 

13 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

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

15 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com16 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

17 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

18 bargaining agreement. 

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

20 beginning on the date on which bargaining is com21 menced, or such additional period as the parties may 

22 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

23 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me24 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

25 a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a 

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


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1 promptly to put itself in communication with the 

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

3 conciliation, to bring them to agreement. 

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

5 beginning on the date on which the request for me6 diation is made under paragraph (2), or such addi7 tional period as the parties may agree upon, the 

8 Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement 

9 by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to 

10 an arbitration board established in accordance with 

11 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Serv12 ice. The arbitration panel shall render a decision set13 tling the dispute and such decision shall be binding 

14 upon the parties for a period of 2 years, unless 

15 amended during such period by written consent of 

16 the parties.’’. 

Æ 


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