Empowers the Board to investigate charges of unfair labor practices. Should it find that an unfair labor practice exists, directs the Board to issue a cease-and-desist order. The Board may petition the appropriate court of appeals for enforcement of such order. Provides for judicial review of Board orders. This section follows section 10 of NLRA. Permits a party charging any of the unfair labor practices specified in this provision to petition the appropriate Federal district court for a temporary restraining order for no more than 10 days. Provides for further injunctive relief beyond the 10 days upon application of the Board. Excludes supervisors from coverage. Permits States to prohibit the union shop. Requires 20-day notice of intent to strike or lock out. The party receiving such notice of intent may invoke one and only one 40-day period of mediation, to begin either at the end of the 20-day notice-ofintent period or at any other time during the remaining life of the contract but not beyond a 12-month period following receipt of the notice of intent. Strikes or lockouts are prohibited during the 20-day notice and 40-day mediation periods. Directs the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to assist in mediating any dispute in which the 40-day period has been invoked. Directs the Service, after passage of 20 days of the 40-day mediation period without settlement, to furnish the parties with a list of five names from which they shall choose one referee who, not less than 5 days before the end of the 40-day period, shall recommend the terms of settlement. Failing prior resolution of the dispute by the parties themselves, the referee's recommendation shall be binding upon the party invoking the 40-day mediation period if accepted by the other party during such 40 days. Such recommendation shall be deemed the contract between the parties and shall be binding unless found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be arbitrary or capricious. If the referee's recommendation is not accepted by the noninvoking party, the parties may resort to self-help, that is, to a strike or lockout. H.R. 13981, SPONSORED BY MESSRS. LEGGETT, QUIE, ULLMAN, AND Cited as the "Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1972". To Coverage: Employees of an employer engaged in agriculture affecting commerce who, during any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year, employed more than 500 man-days of agriculture labor. (This coverage test is the same as that in the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended in 1966.) Provisions: Establishes an Agricultural Labor Relations Board consisting of three members appointed for 5-year terms by the President, with advice and consent of the Senate. The President shall designate one member as Chairman. Authorizes the Board to determine appropriate units for collective bargaining, decide whether questions of representation exist, and direct an election or take a secret ballot to determine selection of representatives for collective bargaining purposes. Empowers Board to certify a union as exclusive employee representative even where the union has lost a secret-ballot election if the Board determines the election was lost because of aggravated unfair labor practices by the employer. Establishes a General Counsel of the Board, appointed for a 4-year term by the President with advice and consent of the Senate, with final authority to investigate charges and issue complaints concerning unfair labor practices, and to prosecute such complaints. Directs the Board to administer the act "with due regard to the special characteristics of agriculture and employment in agriculture". Defines unfair labor practices by employers and labor organizations. Unfair labor practices by employers consist of the five listed in section 8(a) of the Taft-Hartley Act, plus the following two: (1) locking out employees in violation of the lockout limitations in section 13 of this proposal, and (2) knowingly employing illegal aliens, provided that it shall not be an employer unfair labor practice to make an agreement requiring that an agricultural employee must join the union under a union-shop agreement on or after the seventh day of his employment. Defines unfair labor practices by unions in essentially the same way as do sections 8 (b), (c), (d), and (e) of NLRA, and also includes striking or picketing in violation of the limitations against these activities in section 13 of this proposal, provided that it shall not be an unfair labor practice for employer and union to make an agreement which requires the employer to notify the union of job vacancies or gives the union an opportunity to refer qualified applicants to the employer, as long as such agreement conforms to Board rulings to insure nonexclusive and nonpreferential procedures. (12) Empowers the Board to investigate charges of unfair labor practices. Should it find that an unfair labor practice exists, directs the Board to issue a cease-and-desist order. The Board may petition the appropriate court of appeals for enforcement of such order. Provides for judicial review of Board orders. This section follows section 10 of NLRA. Permits a party charging any of the unfair labor practices specified in this provision to petition the appropriate Federal district court for a temporary restraining order for no more than 10 days. Provides for further injunctive relief beyond the 10 days upon application of the Board. Excludes supervisors from coverage. Permits States to prohibit the union shop. Requires 20-day notice of intent to strike or lock out. The party receiving such notice of intent may invoke one and only one 40-day period of mediation, to begin either at the end of the 20-day notice-ofintent period or at any other time during the remaining life of the contract but not beyond a 12-month period following receipt of the notice of intent. Strikes or lockouts are prohibited during the 20-day notice and 40-day mediation periods. Directs the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to assist in mediating any dispute in which the 40-day period has been invoked. Directs the Service, after passage of 20 days of the 40-day mediation period without settlement, to furnish the parties with a list of five names from which they shall choose one referee who, not less than 5 days before the end of the 40-day period, shall recommend the terms of settlement. Failing prior resolution of the dispute by the parties themselves, the referee's recommendation shall be binding upon the party invoking the 40-day mediation period if accepted by the other party during such 40 days. Such recommendation shall be deemed the contract between the parties and shall be binding unless found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be arbitrary or capricious. If the referee's recommendation is not accepted by the noninvoking party, the parties may resort to self-help, that is, to a strike or lockout. MAJOR PROVISIONS OF PENDING AGRICULTURAL LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS BILLS 1 "Agricultural employee" is defined as one who has worked for the same employer 14 days out of the previous month, and for at least 100 days for him or another agricultural employer, in the previous calendar year. 2 The Chairman of the Board is an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, and USDA regional offices perform the functions of NLRB regional offices. 3 H.R. 13981 permits the Board to certify a union as the bargaining representative even where that union has lost the election where aggravated unfair labor practices by the employer have resulted in the defeat of the union in the election. 4 The bills which extend NLRA to agriculture have the effect of requiring secret ballot elections of officers (or of delegates to conventions electing officers) since provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 apply, by reference, to any labor organization certified as a bargaining representative under NLRA. 5 HR. 1689 specifically directs the Board to conduct such elections. |