[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6745 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6745

 To amend the National Labor Relations Act to permit certain employees 
                 to engage in independent negotiating.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 13, 2023

    Mr. Burlison (for himself, Mr. Nehls, and Mr. Good of Virginia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the National Labor Relations Act to permit certain employees 
                 to engage in independent negotiating.

    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 ``Worker's Choice Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations 
        Act to protect the full freedom of association for employees.
            (2) The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the labor 
        organization representation in the private sector was 6.8 
        percent in 2022. 93.2 percent of private sector employees had 
        the freedom to represent themselves directly with their 
        employer.
            (3) Over half the States have right-to-work laws, which 
        guarantees an employee's right to refrain from paying labor 
        organization fees as a condition of employment.
            (4) Employees in right-to-work States who opt out of a 
        labor organization must still accept labor organization 
        negotiated compensation and terms of employment depriving them 
        of their freedom from associating with the labor organization.
            (5) These employees should have the right to represent 
        themselves in dealings with an employer.
            (6) While no employee should be required to pay a third 
        party just to keep their job, labor organizations should be 
        relieved of the requirement to provide services to nonpaying 
        employees in right-to-work States that opt out of membership, 
        refrain from paying dues, and reject labor organization 
        representation.

SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT NEGOTIATING.

    (a) Unfair Labor Practices.--Section 8 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(3)--
                    (A) by striking the ``or'' before ``(B)''; and
                    (B) by striking ``membership;'' and inserting 
                ``membership, or (C) if, in a covered State, the 
                employee has ceased to be a member of a labor 
                organization or pay an exclusive representative''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in the matter following paragraph (7), by 
                striking the period at the end and inserting a colon; 
                and
                    (C) by inserting at the end the following:
            ``(8) in a covered State, to represent or bargain on behalf 
        of employees who have ceased to be a member of a labor 
        organization or pay an exclusive representative;
            ``(9) in a covered State, to interfere with employees who 
        have ceased to be a member of a labor organization or pay an 
        exclusive representative engaged in independent negotiating; 
        and
            ``(10) in a covered State, to restrain or coerce employees 
        who have ceased to be a member of a labor organization or pay 
        an exclusive representative from engaging in independent 
        negotiating.''.
    (b) Exclusion of Workers Engaged in Independent Negotiating From 
Representation.--Section 9(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(other than any employee who has elected 
        to engage in independent negotiating)'' after ``all the 
        employees'';
            (2) by inserting ``, in a State or Territory that is not a 
        covered State,'' before ``any individual''; and
            (3) by inserting ``and, in a covered State, an individual 
        employee shall engage in independent negotiating with their 
        employer if such employee has ceased to be a member of a labor 
        organization or pay an exclusive representative'' after ``in 
        effect''.
    (c) Independent Negotiating and Covered State Defined.--Section 2 
of such Act (29 U.S.C. 152) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(15) The term `independent negotiating' means, in a unit located 
in a covered State with an exclusive representative for the purposes of 
collective bargaining, negotiating between an employer and an 
individual employee as though such employee were not in such a unit and 
without regard to the existence of a collective-bargaining contract or 
agreement.
    ``(16) The term `covered State' means a State or Territory which 
prohibits the execution or application of agreements requiring 
membership in, or payment to, a labor organization as a condition of 
employment.''.
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