United States Postal Service

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 29, 2012

10-CA-038097 (N.L.R.B. Jun. 29, 2012)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
and Case 10-CA-38097(P)
AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION
GADSDEN BRANCH LOCAL 537
DECISION AND ORDER
On March 10, 2010, the two sitting members of the Board issued an unpublished
Decision and Order in this proceeding approving the parties’ Formal Settlement
Stipulation. Thereafter, the General Counsel filed an application for enforcement of the
Board’s Decision and Order in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
Circuit on March 22, 2010. On June 17, 2010, the United States Supreme Court issued
its decision in New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB, 130 S.Ct. 2635, holding that, under
Section 3(b) of the Act, in order to exercise the delegated authority of the Board, a
delegee group of at least three members must be maintained. Thereafter, the General
Counsel filed a motion with the court of appeals requesting remand of the case to the
Board for further consideration in light of New Process Steel, and on August 24, 2010,
the court remanded the case.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding
to a three-member panel.
On January 20, 2010, the United States Postal Service (the Respondent),
American Postal Workers Union Gadsden Branch Local 537 (the Charging Party), 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, as
amended, 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 Formal Settlement Stipulation is approved and made a part of the record, and
the proceeding has been 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 We note that the remedy to which the parties have agreed is not fully consistent
with previous broad orders that Board has issued against the Respondent in cases
alleging that the Respondent has violated Sec. 8(a)(5) of the Act by failing and
2
Based on the Formal Settlement Stipulation2 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 facility located at 421
Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265, herein called Respondent’s
Jacksonville, Alabama facility, the facility involved in this settlement and the underlying
proceedings.
The Respondent is now, and has been at all material times, an entity subject to
the Act under 39 U.S.C. Section 1209(a).
2. The labor organization involved
At all material times, the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (the Union),
and the Charging Party have been labor organizations within the meaning of Section
2(5) of the Act.
3. The appropriate unit
All maintenance employees, motor vehicle employees, postal clerks, mail
equipment shops employees, and material distribution centers employees,
excluding managerial and supervisory personnel, employees engaged in
personnel work in other than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity,
guards, postal inspection service employees, employees in the
supplemental work force, rural mail carriers, mail handlers and letter
carriers.

refusing to provide relevant information. See, e.g., United States Postal Service,
28-CA-17383 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. However, because all parties
have agreed to the terms of this Formal Settlement Stipulation, we have
determined that approval of the parties’ settlement will effectuate the purposes of
the Act. The Board’s approval of this stipulation does not modify these orders in
any respect.
2 The Order has been corrected to reflect that the Respondent is an employer rather
than a union.
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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, as
amended, the National Labor Relations Board orders that:
The Respondent, United States Postal Service, Jacksonville, Alabama, its
officers, agents, successors, and assigns shall:
1. Cease and desist from:
(a) Unduly delaying furnishing information to the Union, as the exclusive
collective-bargaining representative of the employees in the following appropriate
bargaining unit:
All maintenance employees, motor vehicle employees, postal clerks, mail
equipment shops employees, and material distribution centers employees,
excluding managerial and supervisory personnel, employees engaged in
personnel work in other than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity,
guards, postal inspection service employees, employees in the
supplemental work force, rural mail carriers, mail handlers and letter
carriers.
(b) In any 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 policies of the
Act.
(a) Within 14 days after service by the Region, post at its Jacksonville facility,
421 Pelham Road North, Jacksonville, Alabama, copies of the attached notice marked
“Appendix A.”3 Copies of the notice, on forms provided by the Regional Director for
Region 10, after being signed by Respondent’s authorized representative, shall be
posted by Respondent and maintained for 60 consecutive days in conspicuous places,
including all places where notices to employees are customarily posted. Respondent
will take reasonable steps to ensure that the notices are not altered, defaced, or
covered by any other material.
(b) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file with the Regional Director
a sworn certification of a responsible official on a form provided by the Region attesting
to the steps the Respondent has taken to comply.

3 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 National Labor Relations
Board” shall read “Posted Pursuant to a Judgment of the United States Court of
Appeals Enforcing an Order of the National Labor Relations Board.”
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Dated, Washington, D.C. June 29, 2012
___________________________________
Mark Gaston Pearce Chairman
___________________________________
Richard F. Griffin, Jr., Member
___________________________________
Sharon Block, 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 fail or refuse to promptly furnish information requested by the American
Postal Workers Union, Gadsden Branch – Local 537, AFL-CIO, that is necessary for
and relevant to the Union’s performance of its duties as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the following appropriate bargaining unit:
All maintenance employees, motor vehicle employees, postal clerks, mail
equipment shops employees, and material distribution centers employees,
excluding managerial and supervisory personnel, employees engaged in
personnel work in other than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity,
guards, postal inspection service employees, employees in the
supplemental work force, rural mail carriers, mail handlers and letter
carriers.
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.
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
DATE: ________________________ BY: ________________________________
(Representative) (Title)
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent Federal agency created in 1935
to enforce the National Labor Relations Act. We conduct secret-ballot elections to
determine whether employees want union representation and we investigate and
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remedy unfair labor practices by employers and unions. To find out more about your
rights under the Act and how to file a charge or election petition, you may speak
confidentially to an agent with the Board's Regional Office set forth below. You may
also obtain information from the Board's website: www.nlrb.gov
233 Peachtree Street, N.E. Telephone: (404) 331-2896
Harris Tower, Suite 1000 Hours of Operation: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303