SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teamwork for Employ-
ees and Managers Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) the escalating demands of global competi-
tion have compelled an increasing number of employ-
ers in the United States to make dramatic changes
in workplace and employer-employee relationships;
(2) such changes involve an enhanced role for
the employee in workplace decisionmaking, often re-
ferred to as ‘‘Employee Involvement’’, which has
taken many forms, including self-managed work
teams, quality-of-worklife, quality circles, and joint
labor-management committees;
(3) Employee Involvement programs, which op-
erate 
successfully 
in 
both 
unionized 
and
nonunionized settings, have been established by over
80 percent of the largest employers in the United
States and exist in an estimated 30,000 workplaces;
(4) in addition to enhancing the productivity
and competitiveness of businesses in the United
States, Employee Involvement programs have had a
positive impact on the lives of such employees, better
enabling them to reach their potential in the
workforce;
(5) recognizing that foreign competitors have
successfully utilized Employee Involvement tech-
niques, the Congress has consistently joined busi-
ness, labor and academic leaders in encouraging and
recognizing successful Employee Involvement pro-
grams in the workplace through such incentives as
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award;
(6) employers who have instituted legitimate
Employee Involvement programs have not done so to
interfere with the collective bargaining rights guar-
anteed by the labor laws, as was the case in the
1930’s when employers established deceptive sham
‘‘company unions’’ to avoid unionization; and
(7) Employee Involvement is currently threat-
ened by legal interpretations of the prohibition
against employer-dominated ‘‘company unions’’.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is—
(1) to protect legitimate Employee Involvement
programs against governmental interference;
(2) to preserve existing protections against de-
ceptive, coercive employer practices; and
(3) to allow legitimate Employee Involvement
programs, in which workers may discuss issues in-
volving terms and conditions of employment, to con-
tinue to evolve and proliferate.
SEC. 3. EMPLOYER EXCEPTION.
Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act
is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the
following: ‘‘: Provided further, That it shall not constitute
or be evidence of an unfair labor practice under this para-
graph for an employer to establish, assist, maintain, or
participate in any organization or entity of any kind, in
which employees who participate to at least the same ex-
tent practicable as representatives of management partici-
pate, to address matters of mutual interest, including, but
not limited to, issues of quality, productivity, efficiency,
and safety and health, and which does not have, claim,
or seek authority to be the exclusive bargaining represent-
ative of the employees or to negotiate or enter into collec-
tive bargaining agreements with the employer or to amend
existing collective bargaining agreements between the em-
ployer and any labor organization, except that in a case
in which a labor organization is the representative of such
employees as provided in section 9(a), this proviso shall
not apply;’’.
SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON EFFECT OF ACT.
Nothing in this Act shall affect employee rights and
responsibilities contained in provisions other than section
8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended.
Passed the House of Representatives September 27,
1995.
Attest:
Clerk.