The Skills Group

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 29, 1998

327 N.L.R.B. 2 (N.L.R.B. 1998)

327 NLRB No. 2
1
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
Board volumes of NLRB decisions. Readers are requested to notify the Ex-
ecutive Secretary, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.
20570, of any typographical or other formal errors so that corrections can
be included in the bound volumes.
The Skills Group and Pennsylvania Social Services
Union Local 668 a/w Service Employees Interna-
tional Union, AFL–CIO. Case 6–CA–30003
October 29, 1998
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FOX, LIEBMAN, AND HURTGEN
Pursuant to a charge filed on August 20, 1998, the
Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations
Board issued a complaint on August 28, 1998, alleging
that the Respondent has violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1)
of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing the Un-
ion’s request to bargain following the Union’s certifica-
tion in Case 6–RC–11518. (Official notice is taken of
the “record” in the representation proceeding as defined
in the Board’s Rules and Regulations, Secs. 102.68 and
102.69(g); Frontier Hotel, 265 NLRB 343 (1982).) The
Respondent filed an answer admitting in part and deny-
ing in part the allegations in the complaint and asserting
affirmative defenses.
On September 21, 1998, the Acting General Counsel
filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. On September
22, 1998, the Board issued an order transferring the pro-
ceeding to the Board and a Notice to Show Cause why
the motion should not be granted. The Respondent did
not file a response.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Ruling on Motion for Summary Judgment
In its answer the Respondent attacks the validity of the
certification on the basis of the Board’s determination on
the appropriateness of the unit in the representation pro-
ceeding.
All representation issues raised by the Respondent
were or could have been litigated in the prior representa-
tion proceeding. The Respondent does not offer to ad-
duce at a hearing any newly discovered and previously
unavailable evidence, nor does it allege any special cir-
cumstances that would require the Board to reexamine
the decision made in the representation proceeding.1 We
therefore find that the Respondent has not raised any
representation issue that is properly litigable in this un-
fair labor practice proceeding. See Pittsburgh Plate

1 Member Hurtgen dissented from the denial of the Respondent’s
request for review in the underlying representation case, and he remains
of that view. However, he agrees that the Respondent has not raised
any new matters that are properly litigable in this unfair labor practice
case. See Pittsburgh Plate Glass v. NLRB, 313 U.S. 144, 162 (1941).
In light of this, and for institutional reasons, he agrees with the decision
to grant the Acting General Counsel’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Glass Co., supra. Accordingly, we grant the Motion for
Summary Judgment.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent, with facilities
located in 11 counties in Central Pennsylvania, including
Cambria County, has been engaged in business as a non-
profit corporation which provides training, vocational,
and rehabilitation services to individuals with mental
health/mental retardation disabilities. During the 12-
month period ending July 31, 1998, the Respondent, in
conducting its operations described above, derived gross
revenues in excess of $250,000 from services provided to
the County of Cambria, which is itself directly engaged
in interstate commerce, and purchased and received at its
Cambria County, Pennsylvania facilities products, goods,
and materials valued in excess of $5000 directly from
points outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
We find that the Respondent is an employer engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act and that the Union is a labor organization
within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
A. The Certification
Following the election held June 25, 1998, the Union
was certified on July 8, 1998, as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the employees in the fol-
lowing appropriate unit:
All full-time and regular part-time nonprofessional em-
ployees including residential program assistants, resi-
dential program supervisors, adult training service
aides, adult training service instructors, mobile work
force employees and team leaders, transportation coor-
dinators and staff, school based program workers, and
office clerical employees employed by the Employer at
its facilities located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania;
excluding program specialists and guards, other profes-
sional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Union continues to be the exclusive representative
under Section 9(a) of the Act.
B. Refusal to Bargain
Since July 23, 1998, the Union, by letter, has requested
the Respondent to bargain and since July 30, 1998, the
Respondent, by letter, has refused. We find that this re-
fusal constitutes an unlawful refusal to bargain in viola-
tion of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By refusing on and after July 30, 1998, to bargain with
the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining repre-
sentative of employees in the appropriate unit, the Re-
spondent has engaged in unfair labor practices affecting
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
commerce within the meaning of Section 8(a)(5) and (1)
and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has violated Section
8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act, we shall order it to cease and
desist, to bargain on request with the Union, and, if an
understanding is reached, to embody the understanding
in a signed agreement.
To ensure that the employees are accorded the services
of their selected bargaining agent for the period provided
by the law, we shall construe the initial period of the cer-
tification as beginning the date the Respondent begins to
bargain in good faith with the Union. Mar-Jac Poultry
Co., 136 NLRB 785 (1962); Lamar Hotel, 140 NLRB
226, 229 (1962), enfd. 328 F.2d 600 (5th Cir. 1964), cert.
denied 379 U.S. 817 (1964); Burnett Construction Co.,
149 NLRB 1419, 1421 (1964), enfd. 350 F.2d 57 (10th
Cir. 1965).
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, The Skills Group, Cambria County, Penn-
sylvania, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns,
shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Refusing to bargain with Pennsylvania Social
Services Union, Local 668 a/w Service Employees Inter-
national Union, AFL–CIO, as the exclusive bargaining
representative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
(b) In any like or related manner interfering with, re-
straining, 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 policies of the Act.
(a) On request, bargain with the Union as the exclu-
sive representative of the employees in the following
appropriate unit on terms and conditions of employment,
and if an understanding is reached, embody the under-
standing in a signed agreement:
All full-time and regular part-time nonprofessional em-
ployees including residential program assistants, resi-
dential program supervisors, adult training service
aides, adult training service instructors, mobile work
force employees and team leaders, transportation coor-
dinators and staff, school based program workers, and
office clerical employees employed by the Employer at
its facilities located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania;
excluding program specialists and guards, other profes-
sional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) Within 14 days after service by the Region, post at
its facility in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, copies of
the attached notice marked “Appendix.”2 Copies of the

2 If this Order is enforced by a judgment of a United States court of
appeals, the words in the notice reading “Posted by Order of the Na-
notice, on forms provided by the Regional Director for
Region 6 after being signed by the Respondent’s author-
ized 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. Reasonable steps shall be taken
by the Respondent to ensure that the notices are not al-
tered, 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 the facil-
ity involved in these proceedings, the Respondent shall
duplicate and mail, at its own expense, a copy of the no-
tice to all current employees and former employees em-
ployed by the Respondent at any time since July 30,
1998.
(c) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file
with the Regional Director a sworn certification of a re-
sponsible official on a form provided by the Region at-
testing to the steps that the Respondent has taken to
comply.
Dated, Washington, D.C. October 29, 1998
Sarah M. Fox, Member
Wilma B. Liebman, Member
Peter J. Hurtgen, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
POSTED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government
The National Labor Relations Board has found that we violated the
National Labor Relations Act and has ordered us to post and abide
by this notice.
Section 7 of the Act gives employees these rights.
To organize
To form, join, or assist any union
To bargain collectively through representatives
of their own choice

tional Labor Relations Board” shall read “Posted Pursuant to a Judg-
ment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the
National Labor Relations Board.”
SKILLS GROUP
327 NLRB No. 2
3
To act together for other mutual aid or protection
To choose not to engage in any of these protected
concerted activities.
WE WILL NOT refuse to bargain with Pennsylvania So-
cial Services Union, Local 668 a/w Service Employees
International Union, AFL–CIO, as the exclusive repre-
sentative of the employees in the bargaining unit.
WE WILL NOT in any 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 , on request, bargain with the Union and put
in writing and sign any agreement reached on terms and
conditions of employment for our employees in the bar-
gaining unit:
All full-time and regular part-time nonprofessional em-
ployees including residential program assistants, resi-
dential program supervisors, adult training service
aides, adult training service instructors, mobile work
force employees and team leaders, transportation coor-
dinators and staff, school based program workers, and
office clerical employees employed by us at our facili-
ties located in Cambria County, Pennsylvania; exclud-
ing program specialists and guards, other professional
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
THE SKILLS GROUP