Hatcher Press

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 31, 2010

355 NLRB No. 175 (N.L.R.B. 2010)

355 NLRB No. 175
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.
Hatcher Trade Press, Inc. d/b/a Hatcher Press Inc.
and International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Local 853. Case 20–CA–34695
August 31, 2010
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN LIEBMAN AND MEMBERS PEARCE AND
HAYES
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 filed by In-
ternational Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 853 on Oc-
tober 7, 2009, the General Counsel issued the complaint
on December 30, 2009 against Hatcher Trade Press, Inc.
d/b/a Hatcher Press Inc., the Respondent, alleging that it
has violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act. The Re-
spondent failed to file an answer.
On February 25, 2010, the General Counsel filed a
Motion for Default Judgment with the Board. On March
1, 2010, 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 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 received by January 13, 2010,
the Board may find, pursuant to a motion for default
judgment, that the allegations in the complaint are true.
Further, the undisputed allegations in the General Coun-
sel’s motion disclose that the Region, by letter dated Feb-
ruary 17, 2010, notified the Respondent that unless an
answer was received by February 24, 2010, a motion for
default judgment would be filed.1

1 A copy of the complaint was personally served on the Respondent
on January 28, 2010 by leaving a copy at its principal place of business,
because service by certified mail was not accepted by the Respondent.
The Notice to Show Cause was sent to the Respondent by certified mail
on March 1, 2010. The Respondent did not claim this item, although
the postal service left a notice on March 3, 2010. It is well settled that a
respondent’s failure or refusal to accept certified mail or to provide for
receiving appropriate service cannot serve to defeat the purposes of the
In the absence of good cause being shown for the fail-
ure to file an answer or a response to the Notice to Show
Cause, we deem the allegations in the complaint to be
admitted as true, and we grant the General Counsel’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, a corporation
with an office and place of business in San Carlos, Cali-
fornia, the Respondent’s facility, has been engaged in
business as a commercial printer.
During the calendar year ending December 31, 2008,
the Respondent, in conducting its business operations
described above, purchased and received at its San Car-
los, California facility goods valued in excess of $50,000
from other enterprises, including XPEDX Division of
International Paper, located within the State of Califor-
nia, each of which other enterprises had received the
goods directly from points outside the State of Califor-
nia.
We find that the Respondent is an employer engaged
in commerce within the meaning of Section 2(2), (6), and
(7) of the Act; that Graphic Communications Union Lo-
cal 583 was a labor organization within the meaning of
Section 2(5) of the Act; and that International Brother-
hood of Teamsters Local 853 is a labor organization
within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
II. ALLEGED UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
At all material times the following individuals held the
positions set forth opposite their respective names and
have been supervisors of the Respondent within the
meaning of Section 2(11) of the Act and agents of the
Respondent within the meaning of Section 2(13) of the
Act:
Brice Tarling - President
Christine Renninger - Human Resources Manager
The following employees of the Respondent (the bind-
ery unit) constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b)
of the Act:
All employees performing work covered under the
terms of the collective-bargaining agreement between
Respondent and Graphic Communications Union Local
583, covering bindery employees effective by its terms

Act. See, e.g., I.C.E. Electric, Inc., 339 NLRB 247 fn. 2 (2003), and
cases cited therein. In addition, as noted above, the complaint was
personally served on the Respondent.
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD2
from May 16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subsequent
extensions to that agreement.
The following employees of the Respondent (the li-
thography unit) constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9(b) of the Act:
All employees performing work covered by the terms
of the collective bargaining agreement between Re-
spondent and Graphic Communications Union Local
583, covering lithography employees effective by its
terms from May 16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subse-
quent extensions to that agreement.
At all material times from about May 16, 1994 until
December 1, 2006, Graphic Communications Union Lo-
cal 583 was the exclusive collective-bargaining represen-
tative of the bindery and lithography units and was rec-
ognized as the representative by the Respondent. This
recognition was embodied in separate collective-
bargaining agreements covering each of the respective
units effective for the period May 16, 1994 through May
16, 1999, and subsequent extensions of those agree-
ments, the most recent of which were effective for the
period February 24, 2003 through February 24, 2007.
At all material times, from about May 16, 1994 until
December 1, 2006, based on Section 9(a) of the Act,
Graphic Communications Union Local 583 was the ex-
clusive collective-bargaining representative of the Bind-
ery and Lithography Units.
On December 1, 2006, Graphic Communications Un-
ion Local 583 merged into Teamsters Local 853 (the
Union).
At all material times since December 1, 2006, the Un-
ion has been the exclusive collective-bargaining repre-
sentative of the Bindery and Lithography Units and has
been recognized as the representative by the Respondent.
This recognition has been embodied in extensions to
each of the May 16, 1994 through May 16, 1999 collec-
tive-bargaining agreements covering the respective units,
the most recent of which were effective for the period
March 12, 2009 through November 12, 2009.
At all material times since December 1, 2006, based on
Section 9(a) of the Act, the Union has been the exclusive
collective-bargaining representative of the Bindery and
Lithography Units.
About September 23, 24, and 28, 2009, the Respon-
dent, by Christine Renninger at the Respondent’s facility,
bypassed the Union and dealt directly with its employees
in the bindery and lithography units by soliciting em-
ployees to sign an acknowledgement of their final pay-
checks as the total amount due and owing.
On unknown dates in about late September and late
October 2009, the Respondent, by letter from Christine
Renninger, bypassed the Union and dealt directly with its
employees in the bindery and lithography units by solic-
iting employees to sign an acknowledgement of their
final paychecks as the total amount due and owing.
About September 22, 2009, the Union requested that
the Respondent bargain collectively about the effects of
its decision to close its doors and go out of business.
Since about September 22, 2009, the Respondent has
failed and refused to bargain collectively about the sub-
ject set forth above.
The subject set forth above relates to the wages, hours,
and other terms and conditions of employment of the
Bindery and Lithography Units and is a mandatory sub-
ject for the purposes of collective bargaining.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
By the conduct described above, the Respondent has
been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in
good faith with the exclusive collective-bargaining repre-
sentative of its employees, and has thereby 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 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
decision to close its facility, we shall order the Respon-
dent to bargain with the Union, on request, about the
effects of that decision. As a result of the Respondent’s
unlawful conduct, however, the unit employees have
been denied an opportunity to bargain through their col-
lective-bargaining representative at a time when the Re-
spondent might still have been in need of their services
and a measure of balanced bargaining power existed.
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 commit-
ted.
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 violation and to re-create in some practicable man-
ner a situation in which the parties’ bargaining position is
HATCHER PRESS INC. 3
not entirely devoid of economic consequences for the
Respondent. We shall do so by ordering the Respondent
to pay backpay to the unit employees in a manner similar
to that required in Transmarine Navigation Corp., 170
NLRB 389 (1968), as clarified by Melody Toyota, 325
NLRB 846 (1998).2
Thus, the Respondent shall pay its unit employees
backpay at the rate of their normal wages when last in the
Respondent’s employ from 5 days after the date of this
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 on which the Respondent ceased operations to
the time they secured equivalent employment elsewhere,
or the date on which the Respondent shall have offered to
bargain in good faith, whichever occurs sooner. How-
ever, in no event shall this sum be less than the employ-
ees would have earned for a 2-week period at the rate of
their normal wages when last in the Respondent’s em-
ploy. Backpay shall be based on earnings which the unit
employees would normally have received during the ap-
plicable 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).3
Further, we shall order the Respondent to cease and
desist from bypassing the Union and dealing directly
with unit employees by soliciting them to sign an ac-
knowledgement of their final pay checks as the total

2 See also, Live Oak Skilled Care & Manor, 300 NLRB 1040 (1990).
The complaint and motion are less than clear with respect to whether
the Respondent implemented the decision to close its facility or laid off
the employees. Thus, we do not know whether, or to what extent, the
refusal to bargain about effects had an impact on employees. In these
circumstances, we shall permit the Respondent to contest the appropri-
ateness of a Transmarine backpay remedy at the compliance stage.
See, e.g., Fabricating Engineers, Inc., 341 NLRB 10, 11 fn. 1 (2004);
Chicago Truss Connection, LLC, 340 NLRB 974, 975 fn. 1 (2003);
Corbin, Ltd., 340 NLRB 1001, 1002 fn. 2 (2003).
3 In the complaint, the General Counsel seeks interest computed on a
compounded quarterly basis for any backpay or other monetary awards.
Having duly considered the matter, we are not prepared at this time to
deviate from our current practice of assessing simple interest. See, e.g.,
Rogers Corp., 344 NLRB 504 (2005).
amount due and owing, and we shall affirmatively order
the Respondent to bargain collectively and in good faith
with the Union, upon request, concerning the total
amount due and owing to unit employees.
Finally, because the Respondent’s facility has appar-
ently 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 em-
ployed by the Respondent at its facility at any time since
September 22, 2009, in order to inform them of the out-
come of this proceeding.
ORDER
The National Labor Relations Board orders that the
Respondent, Hatcher Trade Press, Inc. d/b/a Hatcher
Press, Inc., San Carlos, California, its officers, agents,
successors, and assigns, shall
1. Cease and desist from
(a) Failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in
good faith with International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Local 853 as the exclusive collective-bargaining repre-
sentative of the employees in the units set forth below,
concerning the effects of its decision to close its facility
and go out of business:
The Bindery Unit:
All employees performing work covered under the
terms of the collective-bargaining agreement between
Respondent and Graphic Communications Union Local
583, covering bindery employees effective by its terms
from May 16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subsequent
extensions to that agreement.
The Lithography Unit:
All employees performing work covered by the terms
of the collective bargaining agreement between Re-
spondent and Graphic Communications Union Local
583, covering lithography employees effective by its
terms from May 16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subse-
quent extensions to that agreement.
(b) Bypassing the Union and dealing directly with unit
employees by soliciting them to sign an acknowledge-
ment of their final paychecks as the total amount due and
owing.
(c) 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 collectively and in good faith
with the Union concerning the effects on the unit em-
ployees of the Respondent’s decision to close its facility,
DECISIONS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD4
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) On request, bargain collectively and in good faith
with the Union concerning the total amount due and ow-
ing to unit employees.
(d) 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.
(e) 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”4 to the Union
and all unit employees who were employed by the Re-
spondent at any time since September 22, 2009.
(f) 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. August 31, 2010
Wilma B. Liebman, Chairman
Mark Gaston Pearce, Member
Brian E. Hayes, Member
(SEAL) NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX
NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES
MAILED BY ORDER OF THE
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
An Agency of the United States Government

4 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 mail 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 bargain collectively
and in good faith with International Brotherhood of
Teamsters Local 853 as the exclusive collective-
bargaining representative of the employees in the units
set forth below, concerning the effects of our decision to
close our facility:
The Bindery Unit:
All employees performing work covered under the
terms of the collective-bargaining agreement between
us and Graphic Communications Union Local 583,
covering bindery employees effective by its terms from
May 16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subsequent exten-
sions to that agreement.
The Lithography Unit:
All employees performing work covered by the terms
of the collective bargaining agreement between us and
Graphic Communications Union Local 583, covering
lithography employees effective by its terms from May
16, 1994 to May 16, 1999, and subsequent extensions
to that agreement.
WE WILL NOT bypass the Union and deal directly with
unit employees by soliciting them to sign an acknowl-
edgement of their final paychecks as the total amount
due and owing.
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 collectively and in good
faith with the Union concerning the effects on unit em-
ployees of our decision to close our facility, as requested
by the Union, and reduce to writing and sign any agree-
ment reached as a result of such bargaining.
HATCHER PRESS INC. 5
WE WILL pay the unit employees their normal wages
for the period set forth in the Decision and Order of the
National Labor Relations Board, with interest.
WE WILL, on request, bargain collectively and in good
faith with the Union concerning the total amount due and
owing to unit employees.
HATCHER TRADE PRESS, INC. D/B/A HATCHER
PRESS, INC.