II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1925

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2003

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. DODD, Mr. HARKIN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. EDWARDS, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. 

LEAHY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. 

LIEBERMAN, Mr. AKAKA, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

BAYH, Mr. CORZINE, Mr. DAYTON, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. STREAMLINING UNION CERTIFICATION. 

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

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

4 adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sec6 tion, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an em7 ployee or group of employees or any individual or labor 

8 organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority 

9 of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of col10 lective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual 

11 or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall 

12 investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority 

13 of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has 

14 signed authorizations designating the individual or labor 

15 organization specified in the petition as their bargaining 

16 representative and that no other individual or labor orga17 nization is currently certified or recognized as the exclu18 sive representative of any of the employees in the unit, 

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

20 individual or labor organization as the representative de21 scribed in subsection (a). 

22 ‘‘(7) The Board shall develop guidelines and proce23 dures for the designation by employees of a bargaining 

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

25 Such guidelines and procedures shall include—
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•S 1925 IS 

1 ‘‘(A) model collective bargaining authorization 

2 language that may be used for purposes of making 

3 the designations described in paragraph (6); and 

4 ‘‘(B) procedures to be used by the Board to es5 tablish the authenticity of signed authorizations des6 ignating bargaining representatives.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

8 (1) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.—Sec9 tion 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

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

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

12 ‘‘to’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘and certify the results 

14 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘, and to issue certifi15 cations as provided for in that section,’’. 

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

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

18 158(b)) is amended—

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

20 and inserting ‘‘or a petition has been filed 

21 under section 9(c)(6), or’’; and 

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

23 such a petition has been filed’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘when such a petition other than a petition 

25 under section 9(c)(6) has been filed’’. 
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•S 1925 IS 

1 SEC. 3. FACILITATING INITIAL COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 

2 AGREEMENTS. 

3 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

4 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(h) Whenever collective bargaining is for the pur7 pose of establishing an initial agreement following certifi8 cation or recognition, the provisions of subsection (d) shall 

9 be modified as follows: 

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

11 written request for collective bargaining from an in12 dividual or labor organization that has been newly 

13 organized or certified as a representative as defined 

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

15 parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and com16 mence to bargain collectively and shall make every 

17 reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective 

18 bargaining agreement. 

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

20 beginning on the date on which bargaining is com21 menced, or such additional period as the parties may 

22 agree upon, the parties have failed to reach an 

23 agreement, either party may notify the Federal Me24 diation and Conciliation Service of the existence of 

25 a dispute and request mediation. Whenever such a 

26 request is received, it shall be the duty of the Service
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•S 1925 IS 

1 promptly to put itself in communication with the 

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

3 conciliation, to bring them to agreement. 

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

5 beginning on the date on which the request for me6 diation is made under paragraph (2), or such addi7 tional period as the parties may agree upon, the 

8 Service is not able to bring the parties to agreement 

9 by conciliation, the Service shall refer the dispute to 

10 an arbitration board established in accordance with 

11 such regulations as may be prescribed by the Serv12 ice. The arbitration panel shall render a decision set13 tling the dispute and such decision shall be binding 

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

15 amended during such period by written consent of 

16 the parties.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT. 

18 (a) INJUNCTIONS AGAINST UNFAIR LABOR PRAC19 TICES DURING ORGANIZING DRIVES.—

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

21 Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 160(l)) is amend22 ed—

23 (1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘If, after 

24 such’’ and inserting the following: 

25 ‘‘(2) If, after such’’; and 
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1 (2) by striking the first sentence and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Whenever it is charged—

4 ‘‘(A) that any employer— 

5 ‘‘(i) discharged or otherwise discriminated 

6 against an employee in violation of subsection 

7 (a)(3) of section 8; 

8 ‘‘(ii) threatened to discharge or to other9 wise discriminate against an employee in viola10 tion of subsection (a)(1) of section 8; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) engaged in any other unfair labor 

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

13 that significantly interferes with, restrains, or 

14 coerces employees in the exercise of the rights 

15 guaranteed in section 7; 

16 while employees of that employer were seeking rep17 resentation by a labor organization or during the pe18 riod after a labor organization was recognized as a 

19 representative defined in section 9(a) until the first 

20 collective bargaining contract is entered into between 

21 the employer and the representative; or 

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

23 labor practice within the meaning of subparagraph 

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

25 section 8(b)(7); 
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1 the preliminary investigation of such charge shall be made 

2 forthwith and given priority over all other cases except 

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

4 to which it is referred.’’. 

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

6 of the National Labor Relations (29 U.S.C. 160(m)) 

7 is amended by inserting ‘‘under circumstances not 

8 subject to section 10(l)’’ after ‘‘section 8’’. 

9 (b) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—

10 (1) BACKPAY.—Section 10(c) of the National 

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

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

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

14 employer has discriminated against an employee in 

15 violation of subsection (a)(3) of section 8 while em16 ployees of the employer were seeking representation 

17 by a labor organization, or during the period after 

18 a labor organization was recognized as a representa19 tive defined in subsection (a) of section 9 until the 

20 first collective bargaining contract was entered into 

21 between the employer and the representative, the 

22 Board in such order shall award the employee back 

23 pay and, in addition, 2 times that amount as liq24 uidated damages: Provided further,’’. 
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1 (2) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of the Na2 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 162) is 

3 amended—

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

5 Any’’; and 

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

7 ‘‘(b) Any employer who willfully or repeatedly com8 mits any unfair labor practice within the meaning of sub9 sections (a)(1) or (a)(3) of section 8 while employees of 

10 the employer are seeking representation by a labor organi11 zation or during the period after a labor organization has 

12 been recognized as a representative defined in subsection 

13 (a) of section 9 until the first collective bargaining con14 tract is entered into between the employer and the rep15 resentative shall, in addition to any make-whole remedy 

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

17 $20,000 for each violation. In determining the amount of 

18 any penalty under this section, the Board shall consider 

19 the gravity of the unfair labor practice and the impact 

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

21 persons seeking to exercise rights guaranteed by this Act, 

22 or on the public interest.’’.

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