Title: Employee Rights Act
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Employee Rights Act
This bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to: (1) make it an unlawful labor practice for a labor organization to interfere (currently, restrain or coerce) with the rights of employees to organize and collectively bargain; (2) require union recertification after a turnover in the workforce exceeding 50% of the bargaining unit; (3) require the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to give 14 days advance notice before a hearing investigating an election petition; and (4) require an employer to provide the NLRB with a list consisting only of employee names and addresses of all eligible voters within seven days after an NLRB determination of the appropriate bargaining unit or an agreement on eligible voters.
The bill: (1) grants union and nonunion employees the right to vote by secret ballot on whether to ratify a collective bargaining agreement or engage in a strike, (2) prohibits the use of union dues for any purpose not directly related to collective bargaining, (3) prohibits a strike without the consent of a majority of all represented employees determined by secret ballot, and (4) prohibits the use or threat of force or violence to obtain the right to represent employees.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1774 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1774

   To provide protections for workers with respect to their right to 
      select or refrain from selecting representation by a labor 
                             organization.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 7, 2017

   Mr. Hatch (for himself, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Cruz, Mr. 
Roberts, Mr. Young, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Scott, Mr. Heller, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
 Shelby, Mr. Perdue, Mr. Sasse, Mr. Isakson, and Mr. Risch) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
               on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide protections for workers with respect to their right to 
      select or refrain from selecting representation by a labor 
                             organization.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Employee Rights Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT.

    (a) Unfair Labor Practices.--Section 8(b)(1) of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)(1)) is amended by striking ``restrain 
or'' and inserting ``interfere with, restrain, or''.
    (b) Representatives and Elections.--Section 9 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``designated or selected for the 
                purposes of collective bargaining'' and inserting ``for 
                the purposes of collective bargaining selected by 
                secret ballot in an election conducted by the Board,''; 
                and
                    (B) by inserting before the period the following: 
                ``: Provided further, That, for purposes of determining 
                the majority of the employees in a secret ballot 
                election in a unit, the term `majority' shall mean the 
                majority of all the employees in the unit, and not the 
                majority of employees voting in the election''; and
            (2) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) Whenever any certified or voluntarily recognized bargaining 
unit existing on or after the date of enactment of the Employee Rights 
Act experiences turnover, expansion, or alteration by merger of unit 
represented employees exceeding 50 percent of the bargaining unit on 
such date and (A) the unit represented employees are covered by a 
negotiated and agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement in effect 
between a labor organization representative and an employer, the Board 
shall conduct a secret paper ballot election among the represented 
employees in the bargaining unit between the 120th day and 110th day 
prior to the collective bargaining agreement's expiration or prior to 
the conclusion of three years, whichever occurs earlier, or (B) there 
is no negotiated collective bargaining agreement then in effect between 
a labor organization and an employer, the Board shall conduct a secret 
paper ballot election among the represented employees in the bargaining 
unit within 30 days. Thereafter, a secret ballot election shall again 
be conducted under the same conditions and procedures whenever the 
recognized bargaining unit experiences turnover, expansion, or 
alteration by merger of unit represented employees exceeding 50 percent 
of the bargaining unit then in existence at the time of the preceding 
secret paper ballot election. The election shall be conducted without 
regard to the pendency of any unfair labor practice charge against the 
employer or the labor organization representative and the Board shall 
rule on any objections to the election pursuant to its established 
timeframes for resolving such matters. If a majority of the votes cast 
in a valid election reject the continuing representation by the labor 
organization, the Board shall withdraw the labor organization's 
certification, the labor organization shall cease representation of 
employees in the bargaining unit, and any obligations to or on behalf 
of the labor organization in a collectively bargained contract then in 
effect shall terminate.''.
    (c) Fair Representation in Elections.--Section 9 of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b), by inserting ``prior to an 
        election'' after ``in each case''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the flush matter following paragraph 
                (1)(B)--
                            (i) by inserting ``of 14 days in advance'' 
                        after ``appropriate hearing upon due notice'';
                            (ii) by inserting ``, and a review of post-
                        hearing appeals,'' after ``the record of such 
                        hearing''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following: 
                        ``The employer shall provide the Board a list 
                        consisting only of employee names and home 
                        addresses of all eligible voters within 7 days 
                        following the Board's determination of the 
                        appropriate unit or following any agreement 
                        between the employer and the labor organization 
                        regarding the eligible voters. Any employee may 
                        elect to be excluded from such list by 
                        notifying the employer in writing.''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(6)(A) No election shall take place after the filing of any 
petition unless and until--
            ``(i) a hearing is conducted before a qualified hearing 
        officer in accordance with due process on any and all material, 
        factual issues regarding jurisdiction, statutory coverage, 
        appropriate unit, unit inclusion or exclusion, or eligibility 
        of individuals; and
            ``(ii) the issues are resolved by a Regional Director, 
        subject to appeal and review, or by the Board.
    ``(B) No election results shall be final and no labor organization 
shall be certified as the bargaining representative of the employees in 
an appropriate unit unless and until the Board has ruled on--
            ``(i) each pre-election issue not resolved before the 
        election; and
            ``(ii) the Board conducts a hearing in accordance with due 
        process and resolves each issue pertaining to the conduct or 
        results of the election.''.
    (d) Penalties.--Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 160) is amended by inserting after the second sentence following 
the second proviso, the following: ``Any labor organization found to 
have interfered with, restrained, or coerced employees in the exercise 
of their rights under section 7 to form or join a labor organization or 
to refrain therefrom, including the filing of a decertification 
petition, shall be liable for wages lost and labor organization dues or 
fees collected unlawfully, if any, and an additional amount as 
liquidated damages. Any labor organization found to have interfered 
with, restrained, or coerced an employee in connection with the filing 
of a decertification petition shall be prohibited from filing 
objections to an election held pursuant to such petition.''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT 
              OF 1959.

    (a) Definition.--Section 3(k) of the Labor-Management Reporting and 
Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 402(k)) is amended by striking 
``ballot, voting machine, or otherwise, but'' and inserting ``paper 
ballot, voting machine, or electronic ballot cast in the privacy of a 
voting booth and''.
    (b) Rights of Members.--Section 101(a)(1) of the Labor-Management 
Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: ``Every employee in a bargaining 
unit represented by a labor organization, regardless of membership 
status in the labor organization, shall have the same right as members 
to vote by secret ballot regarding whether to ratify a collective 
bargaining agreement with, or to engage in a strike or refusal to work 
of any kind against, their employer.''.
    (c) Right Not To Subsidize Labor Organization Nonrepresentational 
Activities.--Title I of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure 
Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 106. RIGHT NOT TO SUBSIDIZE LABOR ORGANIZATION 
              NONREPRESENTATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

    ``No employee's labor organization dues, fees, or assessments or 
other contributions shall be used or contributed to any person, 
organization, or entity for any purpose not directly related to the 
labor organization's collective bargaining or contract administration 
functions on behalf of the represented unit employee unless the 
employee member, or nonmember required to make such payments as a 
condition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in writing, after 
a notice period of not less than 35 days. An initial authorization 
provided by an employee under the preceding sentence shall expire not 
later than 1 year after the date on which such authorization is signed 
by the employee. There shall be no automatic renewal of an 
authorization under this section.''.
    (d) Limitations.--Section 101(a) of the Labor-Management Reporting 
and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 411(a)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
    ``(6) Limitation.--No strike shall commence without the consent of 
a majority of all represented unit employees affected, determined by a 
secret ballot vote conducted by a neutral, private organization chosen 
by agreement between the employer and the labor organization involved. 
In any case in which the employer involved has made an offer for a 
collective bargaining agreement, the represented unit employees 
involved shall be provided the opportunity for a secret ballot vote on 
such offer prior to any vote relating to the commencement of a strike. 
The cost of any such election shall be borne by the labor 
organization.''.
    (e) Reporting by Labor Organizations.--Section 201(c) of the Labor-
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``and the independently verified annual 
        audit report of the labor organization's financial condition 
        and operations'' after ``required to be contained in such 
        report'';
            (2) by inserting ``and represented unit nonmembers'' after 
        ``members'';
            (3) by inserting ``and represented unit nonmember'' after 
        ``any member'';
            (4) by inserting ``and represented unit nonmember'' after 
        ``such member'';
            (5) by striking ``and'' after ``any books, records,''; and
            (6) by inserting ``, and independently verified annual 
        audit report of the labor organization's financial condition 
        and operations'' before ``necessary to verify such report.''.
    (f) Acts of Violence.--Section 610 of the Labor-Management 
Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 530) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``It shall'' and inserting ``(a) It 
        shall''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) It shall be unlawful for any person, through the use of force 
or violence, or threat of the use of force or violence, to restrain, 
coerce, or intimidate, or attempt to restrain, coerce, or intimidate 
any person for the purpose of obtaining from any person any right to 
represent employees or any compensation or other term or condition of 
employment. Any person who willfully violates this subsection shall be 
fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, 
or both.
    ``(c) The lawfulness of a labor organization's objectives shall not 
remove or exempt from the definition of extortion, as defined in 
section 1951(b)(2) of title 18, United States Code, conduct by the 
labor organization or its agents that otherwise constitutes extortion 
as defined in such section.''.
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