Erle Pierce, Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group 

It was another busy week in Concord where the full House of Representatives met for two long sessions ending on Thursday at 6 p.m. Much of the State's business was conducted as many House bills were readied for an upcoming trip to the Senate. 

There were several bills related to changes in labor law, especially as they relate to public employer relationships with unions. As often happens, the working title of a bill has little to do with the final bill as passed due to amendments adopted along the way. 

Here are a few that passed the House this week: 

HB 1206 original title: "prohibiting the state from withholding union dues from the wages of state employees."

Title after passage: "relative to continuing obligations under expired public employee labor agreements."

While the intent of the original bill was a stated in the title, the bill changed dramatically as it went through the process and now says that when no successor agreement has been accepted by the legislative body of the pubic employer at the time of the expiration of the prior contract, any cost increase necessary to fulfill continuing obligations for employee insurance benefits under such contract shall be shared equally by the public employer and the employee. In other words, if you can't reach an agreement on a new labor contract, then both sides will share in the costs of any insurance increases.

HB 1574 original title: "prohibiting all public employees from participating in collective bargaining".  New title as passed in the House: "This bill permits the board of certain public employers to require a secret ballot election to determine whether certification of an employee organization shall remain in effect."

The titles here pretty much tell you what happened with this bill during its journey through the House: from banning total participation in union membership to allowing for secret ballots to be used if the number union members in a bargaining unit drop below a certain number and the public employer would like to have decertification of that bargaining unit.

HB1685 original title: "relative to collective bargaining under the public employee labor relations statutes.  New title: "relative to public employee opt-outs from labor organization membership and dues payments."

This bill did not actually pass as it was laid on the table in for later action if the public sector Right to Work bill (see HB1677 below) did not pass.  As the titles suggest, the bill is now about allowing public sector employees to opt out of belonging to a union or paying an agency fee,but it would recognize that in most cases the reality is that the collective bargaining process would be establishing the salary and benefit packages for non-union members.  Employees who opt out, but whose positions are covered under a contract may be charged a negotiation fee, if the union requests the fee and submits certain information to the appropriate parties. If all of the employees in a particular classification opt out then the union would no longer bargain for that classification and they would not be subject to the fee. Any employee who had opted out would have his/her salary and benefits established through personnel policies.  Such employee would no longer have the right to be represented by the union in any action and instead would fall under the personnel policies for any disciplinary action.

HB 1677relative to choice as to whether to join a labor union and eliminating the duty of a public employee labor organization to represent employees who elect not to join or to pay dues or fees to the employee organization.

This bill is the latest version of Right to Work legislation and pertains to public sector employees only.

Again, this bill passed the House with a less than veto proof margin of 192-139, and HB 1685 (see above) will stay on the House table.

More will follow on these bills when they reach the Senate.  If you have any interest in these bills, please be sure to contact your State Senators.  To find out how to reach your Senator, visit the State Senate website at: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/senate_roster.aspx