NLRB says firm wasn't wrong in closing Red Star

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that USF Corp. did nothing wrong when it abruptly closed its Red Star division after a brief strike that started in Philadelphia on May 21, 2004.
About 2,000 people, including 200 in Philadelphia, lost their jobs.
In 2004, Robert F. O'Brien of Cherry Hill filed unfair-labor complaints in Philadelphia on behalf of union workers at Red Star, saying the closure was in retaliation for the strike, to chill organizing efforts at other terminals, or to void the company's contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
"The investigation disclosed that the decision to close Red Star was prompted by legitimate concerns over future losses resulting from the May 21 work stoppage and was not motivated by anti-union animus or a desire to avoid the Red Star contract," regional director Dorothy L. Moore-Duncan wrote in her decision Tuesday.
O'Brien said he would appeal.
Teamsters officials said they had offered to go back to work the next day, Saturday, May 22, but the company told them it would close on May 24. A company attorney said the union had not told management that workers would return.
USF Corp., of Chicago, is now owned by YRC Worldwide Inc., of Overland Park, Kan.
In January, a federal judge in Philadelphia approved a $7 million settlement to 1,700 union employees in a related class-action lawsuit based on federal laws requiring firms to give 60 days' notice before closing.
The saga of Red Star's demise began at Philadelphia's Bridesburg terminal, which employed 200, mostly union drivers and warehouse workers.
When the firm refused to agree to allow office members to join the union, the Teamsters called a strike. It spread from the Bridesburg depot to all of Red Star's terminals, which were around the Northeast United States. Some trucks already on the road finished deliveries.
Holland, another USF division, now operates the Bridesburg terminal, and some former Red Star drivers work there under a Teamsters contract.