Chicago Truss Connection LLC

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 2003

340 N.L.R.B. 974 (N.L.R.B. 2003)

DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 974
Chicago Truss Connection, LLC and Chicago and
Northeast Illinois District Council of Carpen-
ters. Case 13–CA–41078–1
October 31, 2003
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN BATTISTA AND MEMBERS
SCHAUMBER AND WALSH
The General Counsel seeks a default judgment in this
case on the ground that the Respondent has failed to file
an answer to the complaint. Upon a charge and an
amended charge filed by the Union on May 27 and July
17, 2003, respectively, the General Counsel issued the
complaint on July 22, 2003, against Chicago Truss Con-
nection, LLC, the Respondent, alleging that it has vio-
lated Section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act. The Respondent
failed to file an answer.
On October 2, 2003, the General Counsel filed a Mo-
tion for Default Judgment with the Board. On October 8,
2003, the Board issued an order transferring the proceed-
ing to the Board and a Notice to Show Cause why the
motion should not be granted. The Respondent filed no
response. The allegations in the motion are therefore
undisputed.
The National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
Ruling on Motion for Default Judgment
Section 102.20 of the Board’s Rules and Regulations
provides that the allegations in the complaint shall be
deemed admitted if an answer is not filed within 14 days
from service of the complaint, unless good cause is
shown. In addition, the complaint affirmatively stated
that unless an answer was filed by August 5, 2003, all the
allegations in the complaint would be considered admit-
ted. Further, the undisputed allegations in the General
Counsel’s motion disclose that the Region, by letter
dated September 8, 2003, notified the Respondent that
unless an answer was received by September 23, 2003, a
motion for default judgment would be filed.
In the absence of good cause being shown for the fail-
ure to file a timely answer, we grant the General Coun-
sel’s Motion for Default Judgment.
On the entire record, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. JURISDICTION
At all material times, the Respondent, an Illinois lim-
ited liability company with an office and place of busi-
ness in Ingleside, Illinois, has been engaged in the busi-
ness of manufacturing trusses and fixtures.
During the 12-month period preceding issuance of the
complaint, a representative period, the Respondent, in
conducting its operations described above, purchased and
received goods, products, and materials valued in excess
of $50,000 at its Ingleside, Illinois’ facility directly from
points located outside the State of Illinois.
We find that the Respondent is an employer engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(2), (6), and
(7) of the Act and that Chicago and Northeast Illinois
District Council of Carpenters is a labor organization
within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
At all material times, Michael Weisberg, the Respon-
dent’s president, has been a supervisor of the Respondent
within the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act and/or an
agent of the Respondent within the meaning of Section
2(13) of the Act.
The following employees of the Respondent, herein
called the unit, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9(b) of the Act:

All full-time and regular part-time fabricators and
millworkers, fabrication employees, material handlers,
movers, and maintenance workers employed by the
Employer at its facility located at 27781 Concrete
Drive, Ingleside, Illinois; but excluding all temporary
employees, office clerical employees, design drafts-
men, truck drivers, guards and supervisors as defined in
the Act.

On November 18, 2002, the Board certified the Union
as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of
employees in the unit. Since about the same date, and at
all material times, based upon Section 9(a) of the Act, the
Union has been the designated exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the unit and had been recog-
nized as such by the Respondent.
About October 31, 2002, the Union and the Respon-
dent began negotiations for an initial collective-
bargaining agreement for employees in the unit.
About April 28, 2003, the Respondent, by Michael
Weisberg, informed the Union that it had decided to
close the plant.
Since about April 28, 2003, the Union has requested
that the Respondent negotiate over the effects upon em-
ployees of the Respondent’s decision to close its plant
located in Ingleside, Illinois.
Since about April 28, 2003, and continuing to date, the
Respondent, by Michael Weisberg, has failed and re-
fused to bargain with the Union as the exclusive collec-
tive-bargaining representative of the unit employees con-
cerning the subject set forth above.
340 NLRB No. 112
CHICAGO TRUSS CONNECTION 975
The subject set forth above relates to the wages, hours,
and other terms and conditions of employment of the
unit, and is a mandatory subject for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By the conduct described above, the Respondent has
been failing and refusing to bargain collectively with the
exclusive collective-bargaining representative of its em-
ployees, and has thereby engaged in unfair labor prac-
tices affecting commerce within the meaning of Section
8(a)(1) and (5) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
REMEDY
Having found that the Respondent has engaged in cer-
tain unfair labor practices, we shall order it to cease and
desist and to take certain affirmative action designed to
effectuate the policies of the Act. Specifically, to remedy
the Respondent’s unlawful failure and refusal to bargain
with the Union about the effects of the Respondent’s deci-
sion to close its Ingleside facility, we shall order the Re-
spondent to bargain with the Union, on request, about the
effects of that decision. Because of the Respondent’s
unlawful conduct, however, the unit employees have been
denied an opportunity to bargain through their collective-
bargaining representative. Meaningful bargaining cannot
be assured until some measure of economic strength is
restored to the Union. A bargaining order alone, therefore,
cannot serve as an adequate remedy for the unfair labor
practices committed.
Accordingly, we deem it necessary, in order to ensure
that meaningful bargaining occurs and to effectuate the
policies of the Act, to accompany our bargaining order
with a limited backpay requirement designed both to
make whole the employees for losses suffered as a result
of the violations and to recreate in some practicable
manner a situation in which the parties’ bargaining posi-
tion is not entirely devoid of economic consequences for
the Respondent. We shall do so by ordering the Respon-
dent to pay backpay to the unit employees in a manner
similar to that required in Transmarine Navigation
Corp., 170 NLRB 389 (1968), as clarified in Melody
Toyota, 325 NLRB 846 (1998).1
Thus, the Respondent shall pay unit employees back-
pay at the rate of their normal wages when last in the
Respondent’s employ from 5 days after the date of this

1 See also Live Oak Skilled Care & Manor, 300 NLRB 1040 (1990).
However, as the complaint and motion are unclear as to the actual
impact, if any, of the Respondent’s decision to close on the unit em-
ployees, we shall permit the Respondent to contest the appropriateness
of a Transmarine backpay remedy at the compliance stage. See, e.g.,
Buffalo Weaving & Belting, 340 NLRB No. 80 (2003); and ACS Acqui-
sition Corp., 339 NLRB 736 (2003).
Decision and Order until occurrence of the earliest of the
following conditions: (1) the date the Respondent bar-
gains to agreement with the Union on those subjects per-
taining to the effects of the closing of its facility on its
unit employees; (2) a bona fide impasse in bargaining;
(3) the Union’s failure to request bargaining within 5
business days after receipt of this Decision and Order, or
to commence negotiations within 5 business days after
receipt of the Respondent’s notice of its desire to bargain
with the Union; or (4) the Union’s subsequent failure to
bargain in good faith.
In no event shall the sum paid to these employees ex-
ceed the amount they would have earned as wages from
the date of the closure of the Ingleside facility to the time
they secured equivalent employment elsewhere, or the
date on which the Respondent shall have offered to bar-
gain in good faith, whichever occurs sooner. However,
in no event shall this sum be less than the employees
would have earned for a 2-week period at the rate of their
normal wages when last in the Respondent’s employ.
Backpay shall be based on earnings which the unit em-
ployees would normally have received during the appli-
cable period, less any net interim earnings, and shall be
computed in accordance with F. W. Woolworth Co., 90
NLRB 289 (1950), with interest as prescribed in New
Horizons for the Retarded, 283 NLRB 1173 (1987).
Finally, because the Respondent’s Ingleside facility
has apparently closed, we shall order the Respondent to
mail a copy of the attached notice to the Union and to the
last known addresses of the unit employees who were
employed by the Respondent at any time since April 28,
2003, in order to inform them of the outcome of this pro-
ceeding.
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Chicago Truss Connection, LLC, Ingleside,
Illinois, its officers, agents, successors, and assigns, shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in
good faith with Chicago and Northeast Illinois District
Council of Carpenters, as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of employees in the unit set
forth below, concerning the effects on the unit employees
of its decision to close its Ingleside, Illinois’ facility.
The bargaining unit is:
All full-time and regular part-time fabricators and
millworkers, fabrication employees, material handlers,
movers, and maintenance workers employed by the
Employer at its facility located at 27781 Concrete
Drive, Ingleside, Illinois; but excluding all temporary
employees, office clerical employees, design drafts-
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 976
men, truck drivers, guards and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
(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 concerning the
effects on the unit employees of the Respondent’s deci-
sion to close its Ingleside, Illinois’ facility, and reduce to
writing and sign any agreement reached as a result of
such bargaining.
(b) Pay to the unit employees their normal wages for
the period set forth in the remedy section of this decision.
(c) Preserve and, within 14 days of a request, or such
additional time as the Regional Director may allow for
good cause shown, provide at a reasonable place desig-
nated by the Board or its agents, all payroll records, so-
cial security payment records, timecards, personnel re-
cords and reports, and all other records including an elec-
tronic copy of such records if stored in electronic form,
necessary to analyze the amount of backpay due under
the terms of this Order.
(d) Within 14 days after service by the Region, dupli-
cate and mail, at its own expense and after being signed
by the Respondent’s authorized representative, copies of
the attached notice marked “Appendix”2 to the Union
and all unit employees who were employed by the Re-
spondent at the time since April 28, 2003.
(e) 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.
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
MAILED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government

2 If this Order is enforced by a judgment of a United States court of
appeals, the words in the notice reading “Mailed by Order of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board” shall read “Mailed Pursuant to a Judg-
ment of the United States Court of Appeals Enforcing an Order of the
National Labor Relations Board.”

The National Labor Relations Board has found that we vio-
lated Federal labor law and has ordered us to post and obey
this notice.

FEDERAL LAW GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO

Form, join, or assist any 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 bargain collectively
and in good faith with Chicago and Northeast Illinois
District Council of Carpenters, as the exclusive collec-
tive-bargaining representative of our employees in the
following unit, concerning the effects on the unit em-
ployees of our decision to close our Ingleside, Illinois’
facility. The bargaining unit is:

All full-time and regular part-time fabricators and
millworkers, fabrication employees, material handlers,
movers, and maintenance workers employed by us at
our facility located at 27781 Concrete Drive, Ingleside,
Illinois; but excluding all temporary employees, office
clerical employees, design draftsmen, truck drivers,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.

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 con-
cerning the effects on unit employees of our decision to
close our Ingleside, Illinois’ facility, and reduce to writ-
ing and sign any agreement reached as a result of such
bargaining.
WE WILL pay unit employees limited backpay in con-
nection with our failure to bargain over the effects of our
decision to close the Ingleside, Illinois’ facility.

CHICAGO TRUSS CONNECTION, LLC