I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2980
To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase the stability of
collective bargaining and to preserve job opportunities for workers em-
ployed in the bituminous coal mining industry.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 6, 1993
Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. STARK, Mr. WISE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. BARLOW,
Mr. EVANS, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. RAHALL, Ms. DANNER,
Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey, Mr. COYNE, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. KIL-
DEE, Mr. APPLEGATE, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. ACKER-
MAN, Mr. KLINK, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor
A BILL
To amend the National Labor Relations Act to increase
the stability of collective bargaining and to preserve job
opportunities for workers employed in the bituminous
coal mining industry.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bituminous Coal Min-
ing Industry Labor Law Amendment of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the production of bituminous coal involves,
by its very nature, the depletion of resources at work
locations,
(2) various mining arrangements and techno-
logical advances in the last 20 years have adversely
impacted on job security for workers employed in the
bituminous coal mining industry,
(3) both workers and employers share the mu-
tual goal of mining coal safely and efficiently, and
(4) the safe and efficient mining of coal can
best be achieved by the use of experienced miners
who are knowledgeable as to the industry’s stand-
ards.
SEC. 3. SINGLE EMPLOYERS IN THE BITUMINOUS COAL
MINING INDUSTRY.
(a) DEFINITION
OF SINGLE EMPLOYER.—Section
2(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.
152(2)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol-
lowing: ‘‘Any two or more business entities engaged pri-
marily in the production of coal, including removal of over-
burden and coal waste, preparation, processing and clean-
ing of coal, and transportation of coal, repair and mainte-
nance work normally performed at mine sites or at central
shops of a mine site, and the maintenance of gob piles
in mine roads, performing work covered by a collective
bargaining agreement to which any of the entities is a
party, performing the type of work described in such
agreement, and having directly or indirectly substantial
common ownership, substantial common management, or
substantial common control shall be deemed a single em-
ployer. The terms and provisions of a contractor-sub-
contractor relationship between any 2 or more business
entities working at a mining operation shall not be deemed
to create a single employer or be considered as evidence
of direct or indirect common management or control, with-
in the meaning of the preceding sentence.’’.
(b) CONCERNING SCOPE OF DUTY TO BARGAIN.—
Section 8(d) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 158(d)) is amended
by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Whenever the collec-
tive bargaining involves employees of a business entity
comprising part of a single employer in the bituminous
coal mining industry, as defined in section 2(2) of this
Act, the duty to bargain collectively, for the purposes of
this section, shall include the duty to apply the terms of
a collective bargaining agreement between such business
entity and a labor organization to all other business enti-
ties comprising the single employer and performing the
work described in the collective bargaining agreement. An
agreement lawfully made pursuant to this subsection shall
impose the same obligations under this Act as an agree-
ment with the majority representative pursuant to section
9(a). Nothing in this subsection shall set aside the final
proviso to subsection (a)(3) of this section. Any agreement
which would be invalid, but for clause (1) of this sub-
section, shall not be a bar to a petition filed pursuant to
section 159(c) or section 159(e). Any agreement lawfully
made pursuant to this subsection may be repudiated only
after the Board certified the results of an election con-
ducted pursuant to section 9(c), in which a majority of
employees in an appropriate bargaining unit (as defined
in section 9(b)) either selects a bargaining representative
other than the labor organization with which such agree-
ment was made or chooses not to be represented by a labor
organization.’’.
(c) SECTION 159 REPRESENTATIVES
AND ELEC-
TIONS.—Section 9 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amend-
ed by inserting a new ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’ and by adding
at the end the following: ‘‘A majority of the employees in
a unit appropriate for such purposes shall also include a
majority of employees working at any 2 or more business
entities engaged primarily in the production of coal, in-
cluding removal of overburden and coal waste, prepara-
tion, processing and cleaning of coal, and transportation
for coal, repair and maintenance work normally performed
at mine sites or at central shops of a mine site and the
maintenance of gob piles in mine roads, performing work
covered by a collective bargaining agreement to which any
of the entities is a party, performing the type of work de-
scribed in such agreement where 2 or more entities have
either directly or indirectly (A) substantial common owner-
ship, (B) substantial common management, or (C) sub-
stantial common control.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection
(b), the amendments made by section 3 shall take effect
upon the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) SPECIAL RULES.—The requirement imposed by
an amendment made by section 3(b) shall take effect—
(1) one year after such date of enactment with
respect to any bituminous coal mining operation for
which the contract was entered into by an employer
before the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(2) on the date on which the contract is entered
into with respect to any bituminous coal mining op-
eration for which the contract is entered into by an
employer on or after the date of the enactment of
this Act.
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