STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1021-08

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2974

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2974, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to protect an employee's right to organize by:

 

     (1)  Streamlining the process to certify union representation by requiring the Hawaii Labor Relations Board to certify an exclusive representative if a majority of the employees in a unit not currently represented has signed valid authorizations designating a bargaining representative instead of doing so through an election process;

 

     (2)  Establishing a process that facilitates the initial collective bargaining agreements between an employer and a newly certified employee representative; and

 

     (3)  Establishing a process for arriving at a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the newly certified employee representative if a stalemate develops.


 

     The Hawaii Government Employees Association, ILWU Local 142, and Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO testified in support of this bill. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations testified in opposition to this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2008; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2974, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2974, H.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair