I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3580

To ensure that employees who work under a security agreement that requires

such employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment have

a right to object to the use of their dues for political, legislative, social,

or charitable purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 5, 1996

Mr. FAWELL (for himself, Mr. GINGRICH, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. DELAY, Mr.

BOEHNER, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr.

CUNNINGHAM, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. KNOLLENBERG,

Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. FUNDERBURK, Mr. GOSS, and Mrs. SEASTRAND), introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To ensure that employees who work under a security agreement that requires such employees to pay union dues

as a condition of employment have a right to object

to the use of their dues for political, legislative, social,

or charitable 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 ‘‘Worker Right to Know

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds the following:

3 (1) The United States Supreme Court an4 nounced in the landmark decision, Communications

5 Workers of America v. Beck (487 U.S. 735), that

6 employees who work under a union security agree7 ment, and are required to pay union dues as a con8 dition of employment, may not be forced to contrib9 ute through such dues to union-supported political,

10 legislative, social, or charitable causes with which

11 they disagree, and may only be required to pay dues

12 related to collective bargaining, contract administra13 tion, and grievance adjustment necessary to per14 forming the duties of exclusive representation.

15 (2) Little action has been taken by the National

16 Labor Relations Board to facilitate the ability of em17 ployees to exercise their right to object to the use of

18 their union dues for political, legislative, social, or

19 charitable purposes, or other activities not necessary

20 to performing the duties of the exclusive representa21 tive of employees in dealing with the employer on

22 labor-management issues, and the Board only re23 cently issued its first ruling implementing the Beck

24 decision nearly 8 years after the Supreme Court is25 sued the opinion.
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1 (3) The evolution of the right enunciated in the

2 Beck decision has diminished its meaningfulness be3 cause employees are forced to forego critical work4 place rights bearing on their economic well-being in

5 order to object to the use of their dues for purposes

6 unrelated to collective bargaining, to rely on the very

7 organization they are challenging to make the deter8 mination regarding the amount of dues necessary to

9 the union’s representational function, and do not

10 have access to clear and concise financial records

11 that provide an accurate accounting of how union

12 dues are spent.

13 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

14 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that workers who

15 are required to pay union dues as a condition of employ16 ment have adequate information about how the money

17 they pay in dues to a union is spent and to remove obsta18 cles to the ability of working people to exercise their right

19 to object to the use of their dues for political, legislative,

20 social, or charitable causes with which they disagree, or

21 for other activities not necessary to performing the duties

22 of the exclusive representative of employees in dealing with

23 the employer on labor-management issues.
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1 SEC. 4. WORKER CHOICE.

2 (a) RIGHTS OF EMPLOYEES.—Section 7 of the Na3 tional Labor Relations Act is amended by striking ‘‘mem4 bership’’ and all that follows and inserting the following:

5 ‘‘the payment to a labor organization of dues or fees relat6 ed to collective bargaining, contract administration, or

7 grievance adjustment necessary to performing the duties

8 of exclusive representation as a condition of employment

9 as authorized in section 8(a)(3).’’.

10 (b) UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.—Section 8(a)(3) of

11 such Act is amended by striking ‘‘membership therein’’

12 and inserting ‘‘the payment to such labor organization of

13 dues or fees related to collective bargaining, contract ad14 ministration, or grievance adjustment necessary to per15 forming the duties of exclusive representation’’.

16 SEC. 5. WORKER CONSENT.

17 (a) WRITTEN AGREEMENT.—Section 8 of the Na18 tional Labor Relations Act is amended by adding at the

19 end the following:

20 ‘‘(h) An employee subject to an agreement between

21 an employer and a labor organization requiring the pay22 ment of dues or fees to such organization as authorized

23 in section 8(a)(3) may not be required to pay to such orga24 nization, nor may such organization accept payment of,

25 any dues or fees not related to collective bargaining, con26 tract administration, or grievance adjustment necessary to
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1 performing the duties of exclusive representation unless

2 the employee has agreed to pay such dues or fees in a

3 signed written agreement that must be renewed between

4 the first day of September and the first day of October

5 of each year. Such signed written agreement shall include

6 a ratio, certified by an independent auditor, of the dues

7 or fees related to collective bargaining, contract adminis8 tration, or grievance adjustment necessary to performing

9 the duties of exclusive representation and the dues or fees

10 related to other purposes.’’.

11 (b) WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT.—Section 302(c)(4) of

12 the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 is amended

13 by inserting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘: Provided

14 further, That no amount may be deducted for dues unre15 lated to collective bargaining, contract administration, or

16 grievance adjustment necessary to performing the duties

17 of exclusive representation unless a written assignment

18 authorizes such a deduction’’.

19 SEC. 6. WORKER NOTICE.

20 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act is

21 amended by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(i) An employer shall be required to post a notice,

23 of such size and in such form as the Board shall prescribe,

24 in conspicuous places in and about its plants and offices,

25 including all places where notices to employees are cus-
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1 tomarily posted, informing employees of their rights under

2 section 7 of this Act and clarifying to employees that an

3 agreement requiring the payment of dues or fees to a labor

4 organization as a condition of employment as authorized

5 in subsection (a)(3) may only require that employees pay

6 to such organization any dues or fees related to collective

7 bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjust8 ment necessary to performing the duties of exclusive rep9 resentation. A copy of such notice shall be provided to

10 each employee not later than 10 days after the first day

11 of employment.’’.

12 SEC. 7. WORKER ECONOMIC RIGHTS.

13 Section 8(b)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act

14 is amended by inserting after ‘‘therein;’’ the following:

15 ‘‘except that, an employee subject to an agreement be16 tween an employer and a labor organization requiring as

17 a condition of employment the payment of dues or fees

18 to such organization as authorized in subsection (a)(3),

19 who pays such dues or fees, shall have the same right to

20 participate in the affairs of the organization related to col21 lective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance

22 adjustment as any member of the organization;’’.

23 SEC. 8. DISCLOSURE TO WORKERS.

24 (a) EXPENSES REPORTING.—Section 201(b) of the

25 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959
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1 is amended by adding at the end the following new sen2 tence: ‘‘Every labor organization shall be required to at3 tribute and report expenses by function classification in

4 such detail as necessary to allow its members to determine

5 whether such expenses were related to collective bargain6 ing, contract administration, or grievance adjustment nec7 essary to performing the duties of exclusive representation

8 or were related to other purposes.’’.

9 (b) DISCLOSURE.—Section 201(c) of the Labor-Man10 agement Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 is amend11 ed—

12 (1) by inserting ‘‘and employees required to pay

13 any dues or fees to such organization’’ after ‘‘mem14 bers’’; and

15 (2) inserting ‘‘or employee required to pay any

16 dues or fees to such organization’’ after ‘‘member’’

17 each place it appears.

18 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Labor shall

19 prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out

20 the amendments made by this section not later than 120

21 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

22 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

23 This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment,

24 except that the requirements contained in the amendments
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1 made by sections 5 and 6 shall take effect 60 days after

2 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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