The Attorney General, the Commissioner of Labor or any employee, employees or bargaining agent of employees involved in the labor dispute may file a civil action to enforce this subsection.

4. Hiring off-site permitted. An employer involved in a labor dispute, strike or lockout may perform hiring activities prohibited under subsection 3 at any site other than his customary plants, facilities, places of business or worksites where a labor dispute, strike or lockout involving the employees of that employer is in progress.

A. The employer must notify the law enforcement agencies of the county and municipality in which these activities will be conducted at least 10 days before commencing hiring activities.

B. No employee of the employer conducting hiring activities under this subsection and who is involved in the labor dispute, strike or lockout may picket, congregate or in any way protest the hiring activity of the employer within 200 feet of the building or structure at which such activities are taking place. Violation of this paragraph is a Class E crime.

5. Dangerous weapons prohibited. It is a Class D crime for any person, including, but not limited to, security guards and persons involved in a labor dispute, strike or lockout, to be armed with a dangerous weapon, as defined in Title 17-A, section 2, subsection 9, at a site where applications for employment with an employer involved in a labor dispute, strike or lockout are being received or where interviews of those job applicants are being conducted or where medical examinations of those job applicants are being performed.

A. A person holding a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm is not exempt from this subsection.

B. A security guard is exempt from this subsection to the extent that federal laws or rules required the security guard to be armed with a dangerous weapon at such a site.

C. A public law enforcement officer is exempt from this subsection while on active duty in the public service.

D. A security guard employed by an employer involved in a labor dispute, strike or lockout may be present at the location where applications for employment with the employer will be accepted, interviews of those applicants conducted or medical examinations of those applicants performed to the extent permitted under Title 32, chapter 93. Nothing in this section may be construed to extend or limit in any way the restrictions placed upon the location of private security guards under Title 32, chapter 93.

Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §595-A is enacted to read:

§595-A.__Contracts between employers and replacement workers

If any business operating in this State enters into an agreement with individuals or groups of employees by which they are to replace lawfully striking employees who regularly perform the majority of their work in this State, the agreement must provide that when the strike is settled or if the striking employees offer unconditionally to return to work, those replacement workers will not be retained by the business in preference to the strikers.__The replacement workers may be given only post-strike rights that do not detract from the claims of the striking employees to return to their previous positions.__ Any agreement, written or oral, express or implied, inconsistent with this section is not binding to the extent that it differs from this section.

SUMMARY

This bill repeals the provisions in current law that attempt to restrict an employer's right to hire replacement workers during a labor dispute. Superior Court Chief Justice Morton A. Brody declared those provisions were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act in 1989. The bill retains only those provisions that relate directly to deterrence of violence during a labor dispute.

The bill also requires that a contract between an employer and replacement workers must provide that when the strike is settled or if the employees offer unconditionally to return to work the replacement workers will not be retained in preference to the strikers.