Voices for International Business and Education, Inc. d/b/a International High School of New Orleans

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 5, 2017

365 NLRB No. 66 (N.L.R.B. 2017)

365 NLRB No. 66
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
bound 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.
Voices for International Business and Education, Inc.
d/b/a International High School of New Orleans
and United Teachers of New Orleans, Local 527,
LFT, AFT. Case 15–CA–182627
May 5, 2017
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MISCIMARRA AND MEMBERS PEARCE
AND MCFERRAN
This is a refusal-to-bargain case in which the Re-
spondent is contesting the Union’s certification as bar-
gaining representative in the underlying representation
proceeding. Pursuant to a charge filed on August 23,
2016, by United Teachers of New Orleans, Local 527,
LFT, AFT (the Union), the General Counsel issued the
complaint on September 2, 2016, alleging that Voices for
International Business and Education, Inc. d/b/a Interna-
tional High School of New Orleans (the Respondent) has
violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act by refusing
the Union’s request to recognize and bargain with it fol-
lowing the Union’s certification in Case 15–RC–175505.
(Official notice is taken of the record in the representa-
tion proceeding as defined in the Board’s Rules and
Regulations, Secs. 102.68 and 102.69(d). Frontier Ho-
tel, 265 NLRB 343 (1982).) The Respondent filed an
answer admitting in part and denying in part the allega-
tions in the complaint, and asserting affirmative defens-
es.
On February 14, 2017, the General Counsel filed a
Motion for Summary Judgment. On February 21, 2017,
the Board issued an order transferring the proceeding to
the Board and a Notice to Show Cause why the motion
should not be granted. The Respondent filed a response.
Ruling on Motion for Summary Judgment
In its answer to the complaint, the Respondent denies
that it has failed and refused to recognize and bargain
with the Union, and maintains as an affirmative defense
that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief
can be granted because the Respondent is not an employ-
er within the meaning of the Act.1

1 The Respondent’s answer denies the complaint allegation that it is
an employer within the meaning of the Act, and on that basis denies
that the unit is appropriate, that the Union is the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the unit employees; and that it has refused
to bargain with the Union. However, the issues regarding the employ-
er’s status as an employer, the appropriateness of the unit, and the
Union’s status as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of
the unit employees were litigated and resolved in the representation
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. 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
Glass Co. v. NLRB, 313 U.S. 146, 162 (1941).
Accordingly, we grant the Motion for Summary Judg-
ment.2
On the entire record, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent has been a non-
profit corporation with an office and place of business in
New Orleans, Louisiana, and has been engaged in operat-
ing a public charter school. In conducting its operations
during the 12-month period ending May 3, 2016, a repre-
sentative period, the Respondent derived gross revenues
in excess of $1 million.
In conducting its operations annually, the Respondent
purchased and received at its New Orleans, Louisiana
facility goods valued in excess of $50,000 directly from
points outside the State of Louisiana.
We find that the Respondent is an employer engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(2), (6), and

proceeding. In addition, the General Counsel has attached to its motion
as Exh. H a copy of an email sent from the Respondent’s attorney to
counsel for the General Counsel, which states in relevant part: “This is
a test of certification case. The undersigned has conveyed to the Un-
ion’s attorney Respondent’s refusal to bargain in response to the Un-
ion’s request for bargaining. Respondent is refusing to bargain in order
to challenge the certification of election [sic] issued in 15–RC–175505
on the grounds that the Board lacks jurisdiction over Respondent under
Section 2(2) of the Act.” The Respondent does not refute the authentic-
ity of this document. Therefore, we find that the Respondent’s denials
of these complaint allegations do not raise any genuine issue of materi-
al fact warranting a hearing.
2 The Respondent’s request that the complaint be dismissed is there-
fore denied.
Chairman Miscimarra would have granted review in the underlying
representation proceeding and would have dismissed the petition on the
ground that the Respondent is a political subdivision of the state of
Louisiana exempt from the Board’s jurisdiction. He also stated that in
any event, he believes that the Board should decline jurisdiction over
the Respondent, and other charter schools as a class, pursuant to Sec.
14(c)(1) of the Act. While he remains of that view, he agrees that the
Respondent has not raised any new matters that are properly litigable in
this unfair labor practice proceeding and that summary judgment is
appropriate, with the parties retaining their respective rights to litigate
relevant issues on appeal.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
(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 representation election held on May 27,
2016, the Union was certified on June 7, 2016, as the
exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the em-
ployees in the following appropriate unit:
Included: All full-time and regular part-time profes-
sional employees, including teachers, full-time substi-
tute teachers, teacher-department chairs, special educa-
tion coordinator/department chair, social workers,
nurses, counselors, remediation specialists, ESL coor-
dinator, and behavior interventionists, paraprofession-
als, in-school suspension aides, child-specific aides,
and teacher aides employed at the Employer’s New Or-
leans campus; Excluded: head of school, principal,
chief of staff, administrative assistant, administrative
consultant, dean of students, director of student sup-
port, IB coordinator, marketing and recruiting manager,
data manager, security guards, academic instructional
coach, all other administrative employees, all other
managerial employees, all other employees, guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Union continues to be the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the unit employees under
Section 9(a) of the Act.
B. Refusal to Bargain
By letter dated June 29, 2016, the Union requested that
the Respondent recognize and bargain collectively with it
as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of
the unit. Since June 29, 2016, the Respondent has failed
and refused to meet and bargain with the Union.
We find that the Respondent’s conduct constitutes an
unlawful failure and refusal to recognize and bargain
with the Union in violation of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of
the Act.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By failing and refusing since June 29, 2016, to recog-
nize and bargain with the Union as the exclusive collec-
tive-bargaining representative of the employees in the
appropriate unit, the Respondent has engaged in unfair
labor practices affecting 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 law, we shall construe the initial period of the certifi-
cation as beginning the date the Respondent begins to
bargain in good faith with the Union. Mar-Jac Poultry
Co., 136 NLRB 785 (1962); accord Burnett Construction
Co., 149 NLRB 1419, 1421 (1964), enfd. 350 F.2d 57
(10th Cir. 1965); Lamar Hotel, 140 NLRB 226, 229
(1962), enfd. 328 F.2d 600 (5th Cir. 1964), cert. denied
379 U.S. 817 (1964).
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Voices for International Business and Edu-
cation, Inc. d/b/a International High School of New Orle-
ans, New Orleans, Louisiana, its officers, agents, succes-
sors, and assigns, shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Failing and refusing to recognize and bargain with
United Teachers of New Orleans, Local 527, LFT, AFT
as the exclusive collective-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 collective-bargaining representative of the employ-
ees in the following appropriate unit on terms and condi-
tions of employment and, if an understanding is reached,
embody the understanding in a signed agreement:
Included: All full-time and regular part-time profes-
sional employees, including teachers, full-time substi-
tute teachers, teacher-department chairs, special educa-
tion coordinator/department chair, social workers,
nurses, counselors, remediation specialists, ESL coor-
dinator, and behavior interventionists, paraprofession-
als, in-school suspension aides, child-specific aides,
and teacher aides employed at the Employer’s New Or-
leans campus; Excluded: head of school, principal,
chief of staff, administrative assistant, administrative
consultant, dean of students, director of student sup-
port, IB coordinator, marketing and recruiting manager,
data manager, security guards, academic instructional
coach, all other administrative employees, all other
managerial employees, all other employees, guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
VOICES FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND EDUCATION, INC. D/B/A INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
OF NEW ORLEANS
3
(b) Within 14 days after service by the Region, post at its
facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, copies of the attached
notice marked “Appendix.”3 Copies of the notice, on forms
provided by the Regional Director for Region 15, after be-
ing 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 addi-
tion to physical posting of paper notices, notices shall be
distributed electronically, such as by email, posting on an
intranet or an internet site, and/or other electronic means, if
the Respondent customarily communicates with its employ-
ees by such means. Reasonable steps shall be taken by the
Respondent to ensure that the notices are not altered, de-
faced, or covered by any other material. If the Respondent
has gone out of business or closed the facility involved in
these proceedings, the Respondent shall duplicate and mail,
at its own expense, a copy of the notice to all current em-
ployees and former employees employed by the Respondent
at any time since June 29, 2016.
(c) Within 21 days after service by the Region, file
with the Regional Director for Region 15 a sworn certifi-
cation of a responsible official on a form provided by the
Region attesting to the steps that the Respondent has
taken to comply.
Dated, Washington, D.C. May 5, 2017
______________________________________
Philip A. Miscimarra, Chairman
______________________________________
Mark Gaston Pearce, Member
______________________________________
Lauren McFerran, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

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 Na-
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.”
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 Federal labor law and has ordered us to post and
obey this notice.
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 bene-
fit and protection
Choose not to engage in any of these protected
activities.
WE WILL NOT fail and refuse to recognize and bargain
with United Teachers of New Orleans, Local 527, LFT,
AFT as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative
of our 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
listed above.
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 fol-
lowing appropriate bargaining unit:
Included: All full-time and regular part-time profes-
sional employees, including teachers, full-time substi-
tute teachers, teacher-department chairs, special educa-
tion coordinator/department chair, social workers,
nurses, counselors, remediation specialists, ESL coor-
dinator, and behavior interventionists, paraprofession-
als, in-school suspension aides, child-specific aides,
and teacher aides employed at our New Orleans cam-
pus; Excluded: head of school, principal, chief of staff,
administrative assistant, administrative consultant, dean
of students, director of student support, IB coordinator,
marketing and recruiting manager, data manager, secu-
rity guards, academic instructional coach, all other ad-
ministrative employees, all other managerial employ-
ees, all other employees, guards and supervisors as de-
fined in the Act.
VOICES FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
AND EDUCATION, INC. D/B/A
INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL OF NEW
ORLEANS
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD4
The Board’s decision can be found at
www.nlrb.gov/case/15-CA-182627 or by using the QR
code below. Alternatively, you can obtain a copy of the
decision from the Executive Secretary, National Labor
Relations Board, 1015 Half Street, S.E., Washington,
D.C. 20570, or by calling (202) 273-1940.