SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4182

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 15, 2025

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4182.

      As amended, this bill revises the collective bargaining agreement and labor protections for cannabis employees and certain private sector employees.

      The bill requires the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to handle all matters with regard to private employees’ right to organize, form unions, and bargain collectively in the State of New Jersey.  Under the bill, “private employee” means an employee in the private sector who is not covered by the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. s.151 et seq.). 

      The bill provides the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement with certain powers and duties with respect to labor disputes in private employment.  The division may take such steps as it may deem expedient to effect a voluntary settlement of the differences and issues between employer and employees which have culminated in a labor dispute.  The bill provides for certain procedures the division is to follow to investigate and resolve disputes, and gives the division the authority to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, and administer oaths.

      The bill provides for the designation or selection of representatives by the majority of the employees in a unit to be the exclusive representatives of all the employees in that unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.

      Under the bill, a labor organization that wishes to represent a particular bargaining unit may be certified as that unit’s bargaining representative by submitting to the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement a Majority Support Petition.  The petition is required to allege that:

      (1) the number of covered employees currently employed by the employer named in the Majority Support Petition, as determined from the employer’s payroll immediately preceding the filing of the Majority Support Petition, is not less than 50 percent of the bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining;

      (2) no valid election has been conducted among the covered employees of the employer named in the Majority Support Petition within the 12 months immediately preceding the filing of the petition; and

      (3) the Majority Support Petition is not barred by an existing collective bargaining agreement.

      The bill provides that collective bargaining is the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the private employees, and provides for certain procedures for modification of a collective bargaining agreement and for recognition of an initial collective bargaining agreement.

      The bill requires the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to decertify a labor organization if either of the following occur:

      (1) the Division of Civil Rights Department finds that the labor organization engaged in discrimination on any basis listed Law Against Discrimination, P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.); or

      (2) the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds that the labor organization engaged in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or any other arbitrary or invidious classification during the period of the labor organization’s present certification.

      The bill empowers the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to prevent any person from engaging in an unfair labor practice, refusal to adhere to representative and election procedures, or refusal to adhere to bargaining procedures.

      The bill provides that an employer who commits an unfair labor practice or refusal to adhere to representative, election, or bargaining procedures, in addition to any remedy ordered by the division, is subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each violation.  In cases involving certain unfair labor practices, or practices that result in the discharge of an employee or other serious economic harm to an employee, the division is required to double the amount of the penalty to an amount not to exceed $20,000.

Cannabis employees

      Certain provisions of the bill specifically pertain to cannabis employees as a subset of private employees.

      The bill provides cannabis employees with certain employment-related rights.  Under the bill, cannabis employees are private employees that are employed by a cannabis employer. The bill provides that cannabis employees have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining, and shall also have the right to refrain from those activities except to the extent that the right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment.  The bill provides that cannabis employees have certain rights to engage in strikes due to unfair labor practices.

      The bill provides that it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to:

      (1) interfere with, restrain, or coerce cannabis employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in the bill;

      (2) dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial support against it;

      (3) discriminate in regard to the hiring or tenure of a cannabis employee or in any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization;

      (4) to discharge or otherwise discriminate against a cannabis employee because they have filed charges or given testimony;

      (5) take adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of protected rights;

      (6) refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of its cannabis employees;

      (7) discharge or discipline a cannabis employee who engages in, or induces or encourages any individual employed by the employer to engage in, a strike or certain refusals in the course of employment;

      (8) discharge or discipline a cannabis employee who declines to attend or participate in certain employer-sponsored meetings or communications;

      (9) to spy upon or keep under surveillance, whether directly or through agents or any other person, any activities of cannabis employees;

      (10) to prepare, maintain, distribute, or circulate any blacklist of individuals for the purpose of preventing any of those individuals from obtaining or retaining employment;

      (11) to refuse to discuss grievances with representatives of cannabis employees;

      (12) to utilize any State funding, appropriated for any purpose, to train personnel regarding methods to discourage union organization or to discourage an employee from participating in a union organizing drive; or

      (13) to lockout its cannabis employees through a refusal to permit cannabis employees to work as a result of a dispute with the cannabis employees or the labor organization representing them that affects wages, hours and other terms and condition of employment.

      The bill provides is an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents to:

      (1) cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against a cannabis employee or to discriminate against a cannabis employee with respect to whom membership in the organization has been denied or terminated on some ground other than the failure to tender the periodic dues and the initiation fees uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership; or

      (2) refuse to bargain collectively with an employer, provided it is the representative of the cannabis employees of that employer.

      The bill provides that collective bargaining is the mutual obligation of the employer and the representative of the cannabis employees, and provides for certain procedures for modification of a collective bargaining agreement and for recognition of an initial collective bargaining agreement.

      The bill requires cannabis employers to give access to cannabis employees, including access to the employer’s premises to investigate and discuss with the employees workplace issues, to conduct worksite meetings, and to meet with newly hired employees.  Cannabis employers are required to provide the majority representative with timely notification of any new hiring by the employer or change in the contact information of current employees.

      Under the bill, organizations representing cannabis employees, and their members, representatives, and supporters, have the right to engage in publicity, including picketing, for the purpose of truthfully advising the public, including consumers, that products or the ingredients of products are produced by a cannabis employer with which the organization has a dispute, including publicity which has the effect of requesting the public to cease patronizing businesses which distribute or sell those products.

      As amended and reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 4182 is identical to Senate Bill No. 3139, which was also amended and reported by the committee on this date.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to:

      (1)  remove or revise all provisions of the bill;

      (2)  require the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to handle all matters with regard to private employees’ right to organize, form unions, and bargain collectively in the State of New Jersey if those employees are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA);

      (3)  provide the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement with certain powers and duties with respect to labor disputes in private employment not covered by the NLRA;

      (4)  provide for the designation or selection of representatives by the majority of the employees in a unit to be the exclusive representatives of the employees for purposes of collective bargaining;

      (5)  provide that labor organizations that wish to represent a bargaining unit may be certified as that unit’s bargaining representative by submitting a Majority Support Petition to the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement;

      (6)  provide that collective bargaining is the mutual obligation of an employer and the representative of private employees, and to provide for certain procedures for modification of a collective bargaining agreement and for recognition of an initial collective bargaining agreement;

      (7)  require the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to decertify a labor organization under certain conditions;

      (8)  empower the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement to enforce violations of the bill; and

      (9)  establish certain rights for cannabis employees, and certain procedures with which cannabis employers and labor organizations are required to comply.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) estimates that the bill will potentially generate an indeterminate small amount of annual expenditures for the State Board of Mediation to establish the regulatory requirements in the bill.  The bill could result in an additional indeterminate impact on expenditures by the Division of Private Employment Dispute Settlement in order to implement the regulatory, investigative, and mediation responsibilities specified in the bill.

      The Judiciary may incur additional costs based on involvement in any legal actions related to fines and penalties against employers.  The OLS lacks the informational basis to determine how frequently such violations will take place to arrive at an estimate for the related court costs.

      An indeterminate amount of fine and penalty revenue may accrue to the State from violations of the bill’s provisions, but the extent of employer non-compliance cannot be reliably forecast to estimate the associated revenues.