I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 470

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by United States

persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 11, 1995

Mr. GILMAN (for himself and Mr. MANTON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on International Relations and, in

addition, to the Committees on Ways and Means and Rules, for a period

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned

A BILL

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by

United States persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

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 ‘‘Northern Ireland Fair

5 Employment Practices Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Currently, overall unemployment in North2 ern Ireland is approximately 13 percent, as com3 pared to 9 percent in the rest of the United King4 dom.

5 (2) Unemployment in the minority community

6 in Northern Ireland is 22.8 percent, and in some

7 portions of the minority community unemployment

8 has historically exceeded 70 percent.

9 (3) The British Government Fair Employment

10 Commission (F.E.C.), formerly the Fair Employ11 ment Agency (F.E.A.), has consistently reported

12 that a member of the minority community is two

13 times more likely to be unemployed than a member

14 of the majority community.

15 (4) The Investor Responsibility Research Cen16 ter (IRRC), Washington, District of Columbia, lists

17 80 publicly held United States companies doing

18 business in Northern Ireland, which employ approxi19 mately 11,000 individuals.

20 (5) The religious minority population of North21 ern Ireland is subject to discriminatory hiring prac22 tices by some United States businesses which have

23 resulted in a disproportionate number of minority

24 individuals holding menial and low-paying jobs.
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1 (6) The MacBride Principles are a nine point

2 set of guidelines for fair employment in Northern

3 Ireland which establishes a corporate code of con4 duct to promote equal access to regional employment

5 but does not require disinvestment, quotas, or re6 verse discrimination.

7 SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON IMPORTS.

8 An article from Northern Ireland may not be entered,

9 or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in the cus10 toms territory of the United States unless there is pre11 sented at the time of entry to the customs officer con12 cerned documentation indicating that the enterprise which

13 manufactured or assembled such article was in compliance

14 at the time of manufacture with the principles described

15 in section 5.

16 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRIN17 CIPLES.

18 (a) COMPLIANCE.—Any United States person who—

19 (1) has a branch or office in Northern Ireland,

20 or

21 (2) controls a corporation, partnership, or other

22 enterprise in Northern Ireland,

23 in which more than twenty people are employed shall take

24 the necessary steps to ensure that, in operating such

25 branch, office, corporation, partnership, or enterprise,
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1 those principles relating to employment practices set forth

2 in section 5 are implemented and this Act is complied

3 with.

4 (b) REPORT.—Each United States person referred to

5 in subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary—

6 (1) a detailed and fully documented annual re7 port, signed under oath, on showing compliance with

8 the provisions of this Act; and

9 (2) such other information as the Secretary de10 termines is necessary.

11 SEC. 5. MACBRIDE PRINCIPLES.

12 The principles referred to in section 4 are the

13 MacBride Principles, which are as follows:

14 (1) INCREASING THE REPRESENTATION OF IN15 DIVIDUALS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED RELIGIOUS

16 GROUPS IN THE WORK FORCE INCLUDING MANAGE17 RIAL, SUPERVISORY, ADMINISTRATIVE, CLERICAL,

18 AND TECHNICAL JOBS.—A workforce that is severely

19 unbalanced may indicate prima facie that full equal20 ity of opportunity is not being afforded all segments

21 of the community in Northern Ireland. Each signa22 tory to the MacBride Principles must make every

23 reasonable lawful effort to increase the representa24 tion of underrepresented religious groups at all levels

25 of its operations in Northern Ireland.
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1 (2) ADEQUATE SECURITY FOR THE PROTEC2 TION OF MINORITY EMPLOYEES BOTH AT THE

3 WORKPLACE AND WHILE TRAVELLING TO AND FROM

4 WORK.—While total security can be guaranteed no5 where today in Northern Ireland, each signatory to

6 the MacBride Principles must make reasonable good

7 faith efforts to protect workers against intimidation

8 and physical abuse at the workplace. Signatories

9 must also make reasonable good faith efforts to en10 sure that applicants are not deterred from seeking

11 employment because of fear for their personal safety

12 at the workplace or while travelling to and from

13 work.

14 (3) THE BANNING OF PROVOCATIVE RELIGIOUS

15 OR POLITICAL EMBLEMS FROM THE WORKPLACE.—

16 Each signatory to the MacBride Principles must

17 make reasonable good faith efforts to prevent the

18 display of provocative sectarian emblems at their

19 plants in Northern Ireland.

20 (4) ALL JOB OPENINGS SHOULD BE ADVER21 TISED PUBLICLY AND SPECIAL RECRUITMENT EF22 FORTS MADE TO ATTRACT APPLICANTS FROM

23 UNDERREPRESENTED RELIGIOUS GROUPS.—Signato24 ries to the MacBride Principles must exert special

25 efforts to attract employment applications from the
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1 sectarian community that is substantially

2 underrepresented in the workforce. This should not

3 be construed to imply a diminution of opportunity

4 for other applicants.

5 (5) LAYOFF, RECALL, AND TERMINATION PRO6 CEDURES SHOULD NOT IN PRACTICE FAVOR A PAR7 TICULAR RELIGIOUS GROUP.—Each signatory to the

8 MacBride Principles must make reasonable good

9 faith efforts to ensure that layoff, recall, and termi10 nation procedures do not penalize a particular reli11 gious group disproportionately. Layoff and termi12 nation practices that involve seniority solely can re13 sult in discrimination against a particular religious

14 group if the bulk of employees with greatest senior15 ity are disproportionately from another religious

16 group.

17 (6) THE ABOLITION OF JOB RESERVATIONS, AP18 PRENTICESHIP RESTRICTIONS, AND DIFFERENTIAL

19 EMPLOYMENT CRITERIA WHICH DISCRIMINATE ON

20 THE BASIS OF RELIGION.—Signatories to the

21 MacBride Principles must make reasonable good

22 faith efforts to abolish all differential employment

23 criteria whose effect is discrimination on the basis of

24 religion. For example, job reservations, and appren25 ticeship regulations that favor relatives of current or
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1 former employees can, in practice, promote religious

2 discrimination if the company’s workforce has his3 torically been disproportionately drawn from another

4 religious group.

5 (7) THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING PRO6 GRAMS THAT WILL PREPARE SUBSTANTIAL NUM7 BERS OF CURRENT MINORITY EMPLOYEES FOR

8 SKILLED JOBS, INCLUDING THE EXPANSION OF EX9 ISTING PROGRAMS AND THE CREATION OF NEW PRO10 GRAMS TO TRAIN, UPGRADE, AND IMPROVE THE

11 SKILLS OF MINORITY EMPLOYEES.—This does not

12 imply that such programs should not be open to all

13 members of the workforce equally.

14 (8) THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCEDURES TO

15 ASSESS, IDENTIFY, AND ACTIVELY RECRUIT MINOR16 ITY EMPLOYEES WITH POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER

17 ADVANCEMENT.—This section does not imply that

18 such procedures should not apply to all employees

19 equally.

20 (9) THE APPOINTMENT OF A SENIOR MANAGE21 MENT STAFF MEMBER TO OVERSEE THE COMPANY’S

22 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EFFORTS AND THE SETTING

23 UP OF TIMETABLES TO CARRY OUT AFFIRMATIVE

24 ACTION PRINCIPLES.—In addition to the above, each

25 signatory to the MacBride Principles is required to
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1 report annually to an independent monitoring agen2 cy on its progress in the implementation of these

3 Principles.

4 SEC. 6. WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.

5 (a) WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.—In any case in which

6 the President determines that compliance by a United

7 States person with the provisions of this Act would harm

8 the national security of the United States, the President

9 may waive those provisions with respect to that United

10 States person. The President shall publish in the Federal

11 Register each waiver granted under this section and shall

12 submit to the Congress a justification for granting each

13 such waiver. Any such waiver shall become effective at the

14 end of ninety days after the date on which the justification

15 is submitted to the Congress unless the Congress, within

16 that ninety-day period, adopts a joint resolution dis17 approving the waiver. In the computation of such ninety18 day period, there shall be excluded the days on which ei19 ther House of Congress is not in session because of an

20 adjournment of more than three days to a day certain or

21 because of an adjournment of the Congress sine die.

22 (b) CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS.—

23 (1) Any resolution described in subsection (a)

24 shall be considered in the Senate in accordance with

25 the provisions of section 601(b) of the International
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1 Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of

2 1976.

3 (2) For the purpose of expediting the consider4 ation and adoption of a resolution under subsection

5 (a) in the House of Representatives, a motion to

6 proceed to the consideration of such resolution after

7 it has been reported by the appropriate committee

8 shall be treated as highly privileged in the House of

9 Representatives.

10 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS.

11 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this Act—

12 (1) the term ‘‘United States person’’ means any

13 United States resident or national and any domestic

14 concern (including any permanent domestic estab15 lishment of any foreign concern);

16 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

17 of Commerce; and

18 (3) the term ‘‘Northern Ireland’’ includes the

19 counties of Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down,

20 Tyrone, and Fermanagh.

21 (b) PRESUMPTION.—A United States person shall be

22 presumed to control a corporation, partnership, or other

23 enterprise in Northern Ireland if—

24 (1) the United States person beneficially owns

25 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) more than
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1 50 percent of the outstanding voting securities of

2 the corporation, partnership, or enterprise;

3 (2) the United States person beneficially owns

4 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) 25 per5 cent or more of the voting securities of the corpora6 tion, partnership, or enterprise, if no other person

7 owns or controls (whether directly or indirectly) an

8 equal or larger percentage;

9 (3) the corporation, partnership, or enterprise

10 is operated by the United States person pursuant to

11 the provisions of an exclusive management contract;

12 (4) a majority of the members of the board of

13 directors of the corporation, partnership, or enter14 prise are also members of the comparable governing

15 body of the United States person;

16 (5) the United States person has authority to

17 appoint the majority of the members of the board of

18 directors of the corporation, partnership, or enter19 prise; or

20 (6) the United States person has authority to

21 appoint the chief operating officer of the corpora22 tion, partnership, or enterprise.
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1 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of

3 enactment of this Act.

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