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Union Calendar No. 134

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 743

[Report No. 104–248]

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow labor management

cooperative efforts that improve economic competitiveness in the United

States to continue to thrive, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 30, 1995

Mr. GUNDERSON (for himself, Mr. FAWELL, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. HOEKSTRA,

Mr. PETRI, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. TALENT, Mr. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. EMERSON, Mr. BEREUTER,

Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. HOKE, Mr. LINDER, Mr. PORTER, Mr. PORTMAN,

Mr. STENHOLM, and Mr. HAYES) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

SEPTEMBER 18, 1995

Additional sponsors: Mr. MCKEON, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr.

FUNDERBURK, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas,

Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. UPTON, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

DEAL of Georgia, Mr. KLUG, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr.

HALL of Texas, Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. QUILLEN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SOUDER,

Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. RIGGS, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr.

MCINTOSH, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mrs.

SEASTRAND, Mr. DREIER, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CRANE, Mr.

COX of California, Mr. REGULA, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BASS,

Mr. HEFLEY, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. MCCOLLUM,

Mr. COBLE, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee, Mr. ALLARD,

Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. GOSS,

Mr. WAMP, Mr. SALMON, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. CLINGER, Mr. BARTON

of Texas, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. HASTINGS of

Washington, Mr. HERGER, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. PARKER, Mr. LATHAM,

Mr. HANSEN, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. STUMP, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr.

SMITH of Texas, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky, Mr. WOLF, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. WICKER, Ms. PRYCE, Mr. BACHUS,

Mr. BARR, Mr. SPENCE, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. PAXON, Mr.
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DICKEY, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. HEINEMAN,

Mr. GEKAS, Ms. DUNN of Washington, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. BROWNBACK,

Mrs. WALDHOLTZ, and Mrs. LINCOLN

SEPTEMBER 18, 1995

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow labor

management cooperative efforts that improve economic

competitiveness in the United States to continue to

thrive, 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 ‘‘Teamwork for Employ5 ees and Managers Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) the escalating demands of global competi9 tion have compelled an increasing number of employ10 ers in the United States to make dramatic changes

11 in workplace and employer-employee relationships;

12 (2) such changes involve an enhanced role for

13 the employee in workplace decisionmaking, often re14 ferred to as ‘‘Employee Involvement’’, which has
3

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1 taken many forms, including self-managed work

2 teams, quality-of-worklife, quality circles, and joint

3 labor-management committees;

4 (3) Employee Involvement programs, which op5 erate successfully in both unionized and

6 nonunionized settings, have been established by over

7 80 percent of the largest employers in the United

8 States and exist in an estimated 30,000 workplaces;

9 (4) in addition to enhancing the productivity

10 and competitiveness of businesses in the United

11 States, Employee Involvement programs have had a

12 positive impact on the lives of such employees, better

13 enabling them to reach their potential in work force;

14 (5) recognizing that foreign competitors have

15 successfully utilized Employee Involvement tech16 niques, the Congress has consistently joined busi17 ness, labor and academic leaders in encouraging and

18 recognizing successful Employee Involvement pro19 grams in the workplace through such incentives as

20 the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award;

21 (6) employers who have instituted legitimate

22 Employee Involvement programs have not done so to

23 interfere with the collective bargaining rights guar24 anteed by the labor laws, as was the case in the
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1 1930’s when employers established deceptive sham

2 ‘‘company unions’’ to avoid unionization; and

3 (7) Employee Involvement is currently threat4 ened by legal interpretations of the prohibition

5 against employer-dominated ‘‘company unions’’.

6 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is—

7 (1) to protect legitimate Employee Involvement

8 programs against governmental interference;

9 (2) to preserve existing protections against de10 ceptive, coercive employer practices; and

11 (3) to allow legitimate Employee Involvement

12 programs to continue to evolve and proliferate.

13 SEC. 3. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION.

14 Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act

15 is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the

16 following: ‘‘: Provided further, That it shall not constitute

17 or be evidence of an unfair labor practice under this para18 graph for an employer to establish, assist, maintain, or

19 participate in any organization or entity of any kind, in

20 which employees participate, to address matters of mutual

21 interest, including issues of quality, productivity and effi22 ciency, and which does not have, claim, or seek authority

23 to negotiate or enter into collective bargaining agreements

24 with the employer or to amend existing collective bargain-
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1 ing agreements between the employer and any labor

2 organization.’’.

3 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON EFFECT OF ACT.

4 Nothing in this Act shall affect employee rights and

5 responsibilities contained in provisions other than section

6 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.

7 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

8 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teamwork for Employ9 ees and Managers Act of 1995’’.

10 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

11 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

12 (1) the escalating demands of global competition

13 have compelled an increasing number of employers in

14 the United States to make dramatic changes in work15 place and employer-employee relationships;

16 (2) such changes involve an enhanced role for the

17 employee in workplace decisionmaking, often referred

18 to as ‘‘Employee Involvement’’, which has taken

19 many forms, including self-managed work teams,

20 quality-of-worklife, quality circles, and joint labor21 management committees;

22 (3) Employee Involvement programs, which op23 erate successfully in both unionized and nonunionized

24 settings, have been established by over 80 percent of
6

•HR 743 RH

1 the largest employers in the United States and exist

2 in an estimated 30,000 workplaces;

3 (4) in addition to enhancing the productivity

4 and competitiveness of businesses in the United

5 States, Employee Involvement programs have had a

6 positive impact on the lives of such employees, better

7 enabling them to reach their potential in the

8 workforce;

9 (5) recognizing that foreign competitors have

10 successfully utilized Employee Involvement techniques,

11 the Congress has consistently joined business, labor

12 and academic leaders in encouraging and recognizing

13 successful Employee Involvement programs in the

14 workplace through such incentives as the Malcolm

15 Baldrige National Quality Award;

16 (6) employers who have instituted legitimate

17 Employee Involvement programs have not done so to

18 interfere with the collective bargaining rights guaran19 teed by the labor laws, as was the case in the 1930’s

20 when employers established deceptive sham ‘‘company

21 unions’’ to avoid unionization; and

22 (7) Employee Involvement is currently threat23 ened by legal interpretations of the prohibition

24 against employer-dominated ‘‘company unions’’.

25 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is—
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1 (1) to protect legitimate Employee Involvement

2 programs against governmental interference;

3 (2) to preserve existing protections against de4 ceptive, coercive employer practices; and

5 (3) to allow legitimate Employee Involvement

6 programs, in which workers may discuss issues in7 volving terms and conditions of employment, to con8 tinue to evolve and proliferate.

9 SEC. 3. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION.

10 Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act

11 is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the fol12 lowing: ‘‘: Provided further, That it shall not constitute or

13 be evidence of an unfair labor practice under this para14 graph for an employer to establish, assist, maintain, or par15 ticipate in any organization or entity of any kind, in which

16 employees participate, to address matters of mutual inter17 est, including, but not limited to, issues of quality, produc18 tivity, efficiency, and safety and health, and which does not

19 have, claim, or seek authority to be the exclusive bargaining

20 representative of the employees or to negotiate or enter into

21 collective bargaining agreements with the employer or to

22 amend existing collective bargaining agreements between

23 the employer and any labor organization, except that in

24 a case in which a labor organization is the representative
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1 of such employees as provided in section 9(a), this proviso

2 shall not apply;’’.

3 SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON EFFECT OF ACT.

4 Nothing in this Act shall affect employee rights and

5 responsibilities contained in provisions other than section

6 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.
Union Calendar No. 134

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 743

[Report No. 104–248]

A BILL

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to

poses.States to continue to thrive, and for other purimprove economic competitiveness in the Unitedallow labor management cooperative efforts that

SEPTEMBER 18, 1995

Reported with an amendment