H-4055              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1669

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Representatives Wang, Patrick, Ebersole, O'Brien, Locke, Sayan and Winsley

Read first time 1/22/88 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to maintaining existing collective bargaining agreements; 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:

          (1) Where a collective bargaining agreement between an employer and a labor organization contains a successor clause, the successor clause is binding upon and effective against any successor employer who succeeds to the contracting employer's business until the expiration date of the agreement.  No successor clause is binding and enforceable against the successor employer for more than three years from the effective date of the collective bargaining agreement between the contracting employer and the labor organization.

          (2) An employer who is a party to a collective bargaining agreement containing a successor clause has an affirmative duty to disclose the existence of the agreement and the successor clause to any successor employer.  The disclosure requirements of this subsection shall be satisfied by including in any contract of sale, agreement to purchase, or any similar instrument of conveyance, a statement that the successor employer is bound by the successor clause as provided in the collective bargaining agreement.

          (3) 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 facility as the contracting employer.

          (4) This section shall not apply to:

          (a) A receiver or trustee in bankruptcy of any contracting employer who has gone into receivership or bankruptcy;

          (b) An employer who acquires a business from a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy;

          (c) An employer which is a public entity; or

          (d) An employer who is subject to the national labor relations act or the railway labor act.

          (5) This chapter may be enforced in a court of competent jurisdiction by any person aggrieved by a violation of this chapter.