S-1326               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 4330

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senators Warnke, Talmadge and Bender

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor.

AN ACT Relating to labor relations; and adding a new section to chapter 49.36 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 49.36 RCW to read as follows:

          A successor employer shall recognize the exclusive bargaining representative and the bargaining unit established under an existing collective bargaining agreement entered into by the predecessor employer.  The successor employer, however, may seek to renegotiate the terms of any such agreement.

          As used in this section, "successor employer" means any purchaser, assignee, or transferee of a business the employees of which are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, if the purchaser, assignee, or transferee conducts or will conduct substantially the same business operation, or offer the same service and use the same physical facilities, as the predecessor employer.

          This section does not apply to a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy of any contracting employer who has gone into receivership or bankruptcy, nor to any employer who acquires a business from a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy, nor to any employer which is a public entity, nor to any employer who is subject to the national labor relations act or the railway labor act.

          An employer who is a party to a collective bargaining agreement has the affirmative duty to disclose the existence of the agreement to any successor employer.  The disclosure requirements are satisfied by including in any contract of sale, agreement to purchase, or similar instrument of conveyance, a statement that the successor employer is bound as provided for in the collective bargaining agreement.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.