34:13B-2. Collective bargaining

Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this act. No public utility, its officers or agents, shall deny or in any way question the right of its employees to join, organize or assist in organizing the labor organization of their choice, and it shall be unlawful for any public utility to interfere in any way with the organization of its employees, or to use the funds of the public utility in maintaining or assisting or contributing to any labor organization, labor representative, or other agency of collective bargaining, or in performing any work therefor, or to influence or coerce employees in an effort to induce them to join or remain or not to join or remain members of any labor organization; provided, however, that it shall not be unlawful to require as a condition of employment, membership in any labor organization, not initiated, created or existing as a result of practices declared unlawful hereby; provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit a public utility from permitting an employee, individually, or local representatives of employees from conferring with management during working hours without loss of time, or to prohibit a public utility from furnishing free transportation to its employees while engaged in the business of a labor organization. In the event of a controversy as to who are the representatives of any given craft or class of employees of a utility for the purpose of collective bargaining or of a controversy as to which employees of a utility constitute or are members of a given craft or class and entitled to vote in an election for the choice of representatives for purposes of collective bargaining, the State Board of Mediation shall determine such question or questions and certify its findings to the employees and to the utility. Such finding of the State Board of Mediation shall be conclusive.

L.1946, c. 38, p. 87, s. 2.