I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1696 

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

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

for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2005 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. 

PELOSI, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 

CARNAHAN, Mr. WU, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. BISHOP of New 

York, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. WEXLER, Mrs. JONES of 

Ohio, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. 

KILDEE, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. BACA, Mr. 

CHANDLER, Mr. WEINER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. WATERS, 

Mr. CASE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. COOPER, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. 

BERMAN, Mr. KIND, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. OLVER, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SLAUGHTER, 

Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BERRY, Mr. 

TIERNEY, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. 

NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. 

ROSS, Mr. HOYER, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. 

WYNN, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. 

CONYERS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. DINGELL, Mrs. MALONEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. FORD, Mr. STARK, Mr. 

FATTAH, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN

of California, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. 

MCHUGH, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. MENENDEZ, 

Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. SCOTT of 

Georgia, Mr. DICKS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. WATSON, Mr. AL

GREEN of Texas, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. 

MOLLOHAN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. 

LEE, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. COSTELLO, and Mr. 
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KUHL of New York) 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 establish 

an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, 

or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory 

injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing 

efforts, 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 ‘‘Employee Free Choice 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING UNION CERTIFICATION. 

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

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

9 adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec11 tion, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an em12 ployee or group of employees or any individual or labor 

13 organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority 

14 of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of col15 lective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual 

16 or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall 

17 investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority 
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1 of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has 

2 signed authorizations designating the individual or labor 

3 organization specified in the petition as their bargaining 

4 representative and that no other individual or labor orga5 nization is currently certified or recognized as the exclu6 sive representative of any of the employees in the unit, 

7 the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the 

8 individual or labor organization as the representative de9 scribed in subsection (a). 

10 ‘‘(7) The Board shall develop guidelines and proce11 dures for the designation by employees of a bargaining 

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

13 Such guidelines and procedures shall include— 

14 ‘‘(A) model collective bargaining authorization 

15 language that may be used for purposes of making 

16 the designations described in paragraph (6); and 

17 ‘‘(B) procedures to be used by the Board to es18 tablish the authenticity of signed authorizations des19 ignating bargaining representatives.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

21 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.—Sec22 tion 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

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

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

25 ‘‘to’’; and 
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘and certify the results 

2 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘, and to issue certifi3 cations as provided for in that section,’’. 

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

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

6 158(b)) is amended— 

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

8 and inserting ‘‘or a petition has been filed 

9 under section 9(c)(6), or’’; and 

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

11 such a petition has been filed’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘when such a petition other than a petition 

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

14 SEC. 3. FACILITATING INITIAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

15 AGREEMENTS. 

16 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

17 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(h) Whenever collective bargaining is for the pur20 pose of establishing an initial agreement following certifi21 cation or recognition, the provisions of subsection (d) shall 

22 be modified as follows: 

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

24 written request for collective bargaining from an in25 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 
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1 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

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

3 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com4 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

5 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

6 bargaining agreement. 

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

8 beginning on the date on which bargaining is com9 menced, or such additional period as the parties may 

10 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

11 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me12 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

13 a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a 

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

15 promptly to put itself in communication with the 

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

17 conciliation, to bring them to agreement. 

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

19 beginning on the date on which the request for me20 diation is made under paragraph (2), or such addi21 tional period as the parties may agree upon, the 

22 Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement 

23 by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to 

24 an arbitration board established in accordance with 

25 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Serv-
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1 ice. The arbitration panel shall render a decision set2 tling the dispute and such decision shall be binding 

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

4 amended during such period by written consent of 

5 the parties.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT. 

7 (a) INJUNCTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR PRAC8 TICES DURING ORGANIZING DRIVES.— 

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

10 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(l)) is amend11 ed— 

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

13 after such’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(2) If, after such’’; and 

15 (B) by striking the first sentence and in16 serting the following: 

17 ‘‘(1) Whenever it is charged— 

18 ‘‘(A) that any employer— 

19 ‘‘(i) discharged or otherwise discriminated 

20 against an employee in violation of subsection 

21 (a)(3) of section 8; 

22 ‘‘(ii) threatened to discharge or to other23 wise discriminate against an employee in viola24 tion of subsection (a)(1) of section 8; or 
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1 ‘‘(iii) engaged in any other unfair labor 

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

3 that significantly interferes with, restrains, or 

4 coerces employees in the exercise of the rights 

5 guaranteed in section 7; 

6 while employees of that employer were seeking representa7 tion by a labor organization or during the period after a 

8 labor organization was recognized as a representative de9 fined in section 9(a) until the first collective bargaining 

10 contract is entered into between the employer and the rep11 resentative; or 

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

13 labor practice within the meaning of subparagraph 

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

15 section 8(b)(7); 

16 the preliminary investigation of such charge shall be made 

17 forthwith and given priority over all other cases except 

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

19 to which it is referred.’’. 

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

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

22 160(m)) is amended by inserting ‘‘under cir23 cumstances not subject to section 10(l)’’ after ‘‘sec24 tion 8’’. 

25 (b) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.— 
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1 (1) BACKPAY.—Section 10(c) of the National 

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

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

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

5 employer has discriminated against an employee in 

6 violation of subsection (a)(3) of section 8 while em7 ployees of the employer were seeking representation 

8 by a labor organization, or during the period after 

9 a labor organization was recognized as a representa10 tive defined in subsection (a) of section 9 until the 

11 first collective bargaining contract was entered into 

12 between the employer and the representative, the 

13 Board in such order shall award the employee back 

14 pay and, in addition, 2 times that amount as liq15 uidated damages: Provided further,’’. 

16 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the Na17 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is 

18 amended— 

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

20 Any’’; and 

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

22 ‘‘(b) Any employer who willfully or repeatedly com23 mits any unfair labor practice within the meaning of sub24 sections (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 8 while employees of 

25 the employer are seeking representation by a labor organi-
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1 zation or during the period after a labor organization has 

2 been recognized as a representative defined in subsection 

3 (a) of section 9 until the first collective bargaining con4 tract is entered into between the employer and the rep5 resentative shall, in addition to any make-whole remedy 

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

7 $20,000 for each violation. In determining the amount of 

8 any penalty under this section, the Board shall consider 

9 the gravity of the unfair labor practice and the impact 

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

11 persons seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this Act, 

12 or on the public interest.’’. 

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