National Labor Relations Board v. Litton Financial Printing Division, A Division of Litton Business Systems, Inc.

In No. 88-7065, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “the Board”) seeks enforcement of an order it issued against employer Litton Financial Printing Division (“Litton”) on November 6, 1987. In No. 88-7079, Printing Specialties District Council Number 2 (“the Union”), petitions this court for review of the same Board order. The instant dispute arose in 1980 when Litton decided to close down the “cold-type” printing operation in its Santa Clara, California, plant, to expand its more efficient “hot-type” operation in the same plant, and to lay off ten employees who had worked primarily on “cold-type” equipment. At that time, the last of a series of collective bargaining agreements (“CBAs”) had expired and Litton was refusing to recognize or bargain with the Union.

In the proceedings below, the Board found that Litton violated sections 8(a)(5) and 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “the Act”) by refusing to bargain over the layoffs, by directly dealing with the laid-off employees over severance pay, by refusing to accept or process grievances filed to protest the layoffs as violative of seniority rights, and by effectuating a wholesale repudiation of its…