I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6745 

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to permit certain employees 

to engage in independent negotiating. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Mr. BURLISON (for himself, Mr. NEHLS, and Mr. GOOD of Virginia) 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 permit 

certain employees to engage in independent negotiating. 

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 ‘‘Worker’s Choice Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In 1935, Congress passed the National 

9 Labor Relations Act to protect the full freedom of 

10 association for employees. 

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1 (2) The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 

2 the labor organization representation in the private 

3 sector was 6.8 percent in 2022. 93.2 percent of pri4 vate sector employees had the freedom to represent 

5 themselves directly with their employer. 

6 (3) Over half the States have right-to-work 

7 laws, which guarantees an employee’s right to re8 frain from paying labor organization fees as a condi9 tion of employment. 

10 (4) Employees in right-to-work States who opt 

11 out of a labor organization must still accept labor 

12 organization negotiated compensation and terms of 

13 employment depriving them of their freedom from 

14 associating with the labor organization. 

15 (5) These employees should have the right to 

16 represent themselves in dealings with an employer. 

17 (6) While no employee should be required to 

18 pay a third party just to keep their job, labor orga19 nizations should be relieved of the requirement to 

20 provide services to nonpaying employees in right-to21 work States that opt out of membership, refrain 

22 from paying dues, and reject labor organization rep23 resentation. 

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1 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT NEGOTIATING. 

2 (a) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8 of the 

3 National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 

6 (A) by striking the ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘(B)’’; and 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘membership;’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘membership, or (C) if, in a covered State, 

9 the employee has ceased to be a member of a 

10 labor organization or pay an exclusive rep11 resentative’’; and 

12 (2) in subsection (b)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

14 the end; 

15 (B) in the matter following paragraph (7), 

16 by striking the period at the end and inserting 

17 a colon; and 

18 (C) by inserting at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(8) in a covered State, to represent or bargain 

20 on behalf of employees who have ceased to be a 

21 member of a labor organization or pay an exclusive 

22 representative; 

23 ‘‘(9) in a covered State, to interfere with em24 ployees who have ceased to be a member of a labor 

25 organization or pay an exclusive representative en26 gaged in independent negotiating; and 

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1 ‘‘(10) in a covered State, to restrain or coerce 

2 employees who have ceased to be a member of a 

3 labor organization or pay an exclusive representative 

4 from engaging in independent negotiating.’’. 

5 (b) EXCLUSION OF WORKERS ENGAGED IN INDE6 PENDENT NEGOTIATING FROM REPRESENTATION.—Sec7 tion 9(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) by inserting ‘‘(other than any employee who 

9 has elected to engage in independent negotiating)’’ 

10 after ‘‘all the employees’’; 

11 (2) by inserting ‘‘, in a State or Territory that 

12 is not a covered State,’’ before ‘‘any individual’’; and 

13 (3) by inserting ‘‘and, in a covered State, an in14 dividual employee shall engage in independent nego15 tiating with their employer if such employee has 

16 ceased to be a member of a labor organization or 

17 pay an exclusive representative’’ after ‘‘in effect’’. 

18 (c) INDEPENDENT NEGOTIATING AND COVERED

19 STATE DEFINED.—Section 2 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 152) 

20 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(15) The term ‘independent negotiating’ means, in 

22 a unit located in a covered State with an exclusive rep23 resentative for the purposes of collective bargaining, nego24 tiating between an employer and an individual employee 

25 as though such employee were not in such a unit and withVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Dec 29, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6745.IH H6745
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1 out regard to the existence of a collective-bargaining con2 tract or agreement. 

3 ‘‘(16) The term ‘covered State’ means a State or Ter4 ritory which prohibits the execution or application of 

5 agreements requiring membership in, or payment to, a 

6 labor organization as a condition of employment.’’. 

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