United States Postal Service

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 2014

10-CA-130537 (N.L.R.B. Dec. 16, 2014)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
and Cases 10-CA-130537
10-CA-131009
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER 10-CA-131016
CARRIERS, BRANCH 1096 10-CA-131018
10-CA-131062
10-CA-131103
10-CA-131130
DECISION AND ORDER
Statement of the Cases
On October 16, 2014, the United States Postal Service (the Respondent),
National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 1096 (the Union), and the General
Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board entered into a Formal Settlement
Stipulation, subject to the Board’s approval, providing for the entry of a consent order by
the Board and a consent judgment by any appropriate United States Court of Appeals.
The parties waived all further and other proceedings before the Board to which they
may be entitled under the National Labor Relations Act and the Board’s Rules and
Regulations, and the Respondent waived its right to contest the entry of a consent
judgment or to receive further notice of the application therefor.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding
to a three-member panel.
The Formal Settlement Stipulation is approved and made a part of the record,
and the proceeding is transferred to and continued before the Board in Washington,
D.C., for the entry of a Decision and Order pursuant to the provisions of the Formal
Settlement Stipulation.1

1 Chairman Pearce and Member Hirozawa note that the remedy to which the parties
have agreed differs in some respects from previous broad orders that the Board has
issued against the Respondent in cases alleging that the Respondent has violated Sec.
8(a)(5) of the Act by failing and refusing to provide relevant information. See, e.g.,
United States Postal Service, 28-CA-017383 et al., unpublished order issued November
4, 2002, enfd. Case 02-9587 (10th Cir. 2003); and United States Postal Service, 345
NLRB 426 (2005), enfd. 486 F.3d 683 (10th Cir. 2007). These broad orders, as
enforced by the United States Courts of Appeals, remain in effect, and the Board’s
approval of this stipulation does not modify these orders in any respect.
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Based on the Formal Settlement Stipulation and the entire record, the Board
makes the following
Findings of Fact
1. The Respondent’s business
The Respondent is and has been, at all times material herein, an independent
establishment of the Executive Branch of the Government of the United States and
operates various facilities throughout the United States in the performance of its basic
function to provide postal services to the Nation, including its facilities in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, located at 1313 22nd Avenue and 3201 Skyland Boulevard East (the
Respondent’s facilities), the facilities involved in this settlement and the underlying
proceedings.
The Respondent is now and has been at all material times an entity subject to
the Board’s jurisdiction by virtue of Section 1209 of the Postal Reorganization Act (39
U.S.C. § 101 et seq.).
2. The labor organization involved
At all material times, the Union has been a labor organization within the meaning
of Section 2(5) of the Act.
ORDER
Based on the above findings of fact, the Formal Settlement Stipulation, and the
entire record, and pursuant to Section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, the
National Labor Relations Board orders that
The Respondent, United States Postal Service, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, its
officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the National
Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 1096, by unduly delaying in furnishing requested
information that is relevant and necessary to the performance of their duties as agents
of the National Association of Letter Carriers (National Union), the exclusive bargaining
representative of the bargaining unit employees in the following nationwide unit at its
Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities:
All city letter carriers, excluding managerial and supervisory personnel,
professional employees, employees engaged in personnel work in other
than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity, security guards as defined
in Public Law 91-375, 1201(2), all postal inspection service employees,
employees in the supplemental work force as defined in Article 7, rural
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letter carriers, mail handlers, maintenance employees, special delivery
messengers, motor vehicle employees, and postal clerks.
(b) In any other like or related manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing
employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed them by Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action necessary to effectuate the purposes of
the Act.
(a) Upon request, provide the Union with necessary and relevant information in a
timely and appropriate manner.
(b) Each information request tendered by the Union, orally or in writing, shall be
recorded in a log at each of the Respondent's Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities. These
logs shall include the following information: a brief description of the information
requested; the name of the individual who is making the request; the name of the
supervisor who received the request; the date the request was made; and the date that
the Respondent's manager or supervisor provided the Local with the requested
information. If the manager or supervisor, having reviewed the documents requested,
believes that the Respondent will need additional time, the manager or supervisor will
inform the Local in writing, requesting additional time and explaining the need for the
additional time.
(c) Each manager and supervisor who is designated to receive union requests
for information at the Respondent's Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities will receive annual
training which encompasses how to maintain the log and how to tender the relevant
information requested by the Local; each such supervisor and manager will sign an
acknowledgment form attesting to the fact that he or she has completed said training. A
copy of this acknowledgement form shall be maintained in the supervisor's or manager's
training and history files. Union stewards will be granted access to the log, upon
request. Supervisors or managers who fail to reasonably supply relevant information to
the Union will have this fact mentioned in the “corrective action” column of the semi-
annual audit report provided to the district manager and district manager of human
resources. A repeated violation could lead to discipline of said supervisor or manager.
(d) Union stewards at the Respondent’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities must be
notified when the manager or supervisor who is designated to receive Union requests
for information at their particular facility has changed.
(e) The Respondent's legal department or its labor relations department shall
conduct semi-annual audits of the logs at the Respondent’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama
facilities to ensure that the information requested by the Union is being handled in a
timely and appropriate manner, and to ensure that the logs are being properly
maintained. Following the audit, the legal department or labor relations department
shall tender, in writing, a written report that will be forwarded to the district manager and
district manager of human resources.
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(f) Within 14 days of service by the Region, post at all of its facilities located in
the State of Alabama copies of the attached notice marked “Appendix A.” Copies of the
notice, on forms provided by the Regional Director for Region 10, after being signed by
the Respondent's authorized representative, shall be posted by the Respondent and
maintained for 60 consecutive days in conspicuous places, including all places where
notices to employees are customarily posted. In addition to physical posting of paper
notices, the Respondent shall distribute notices electronically, by email, posting on an
intranet or internet site, and/or other electronic means, if the Respondent customarily
communicates with its employees by such means. The Respondent will take
reasonable steps to ensure that the notices are not altered, defaced, or covered by any
other material. In the event that, during the pendency of these proceedings, the
Respondent has gone out of business or closed either of the facilities involved in these
proceedings, the Respondent shall duplicate and mail, at its own expense, a copy of the
notice to all current employees and former employees employed by the Respondent at
the closed facility at any time since April 17, 2014.
(g) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file with the Regional Director for
Region 10 a sworn certification of a responsible official on a form provided by the
Region attesting to the steps the Respondent has taken to comply. The Regional
Director shall be supplied a copy of the documents signed by the district manager of
labor relations, attesting to the dates that the notices were received at each facility, and
the dates that the notices were posted.
Dated, Washington, D.C., December 16, 2014
___________________________________
Mark Gaston Pearce, Chairman
___________________________________
Philip A. Miscimarra, Member
___________________________________
Kent Y. Hirozawa, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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APPENDIX A
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
PURSUANT TO A STIPULATION PROVIDING FOR A BOARD ORDER
AND A CONSENT JUDGMENT OF ANY APPROPRIATE
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FEDERAL LAW GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO:
Form, join, or assist a union
Choose representatives to bargain with us on your behalf
Act together with other employees for your benefit and protection
Choose not to engage in any of these protected activities.
WE WILL NOT unduly delay furnishing information requested by the National
Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 1096, that is necessary for and relevant to the
performance of their duties as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the
following appropriate bargaining unit at our Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities:
All city letter carriers, excluding managerial and supervisory personnel,
professional employees, employees engaged in personnel work in other
than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity, security guards as defined
in Public Law 91-375, 1201(2), all postal inspection service employees,
employees in the supplemental work force as defined in Article 7, rural
letter carriers, mail handlers, maintenance employees, special delivery
messengers, motor vehicle employees, and postal clerks.
WE WILL NOT in any other like or related manner interfere with, restrain, or coerce you
in the exercise of the rights guaranteed you by Section 7 of the Act.
WE WILL, upon request, provide the Union with necessary and relevant information in a
timely and appropriate manner.
WE WILL record each information request tendered by the Union in a log at the facility
where the information request was made. If our manager or supervisor, having
reviewed the documents requested, believes that we will need additional time, the
manager or supervisor will inform the requesting Local in writing, requesting additional
time and explaining the need for the additional time.
WE WILL conduct annual training with each manager or supervisor designated to
receive union requests for information at our Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities, on how to
maintain the logs and how to tender the relevant requested information.
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WE WILL notify union stewards when the manager or supervisor who is designated to
receive union requests for information at their facility has changed.
WE WILL conduct, through our legal department or labor relations department, semi-
annual audits of the logs at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama facilities, to ensure that the
information requested by the Union is being handled in a timely and appropriate
manner, and to ensure that the logs are being properly maintained. Following the audit,
our legal department or labor relations department shall tender, in writing, a written
report that will be forwarded to the district manager and district manager of human
resources.
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
The Board’s decision can be found at www.nlrb.gov/case/10-CA-130537 or by using the
QR code below. Alternatively, you can obtain a copy of the decision from the Executive
Secretary, National Labor Relations Board, 1099 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
20570, or by calling (202) 273-1940.