11:0019(10)AR - Naval Ordnance Station, Louisville, KY and Lodge No. 830, IAM -- 1983 FLRAdec AR

 11 FLRA No. 10
 
 NAVAL ORDNANCE STATION,
 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
 Activity
 
 and
 
 LODGE NO. 830,
 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
 OF MACHINISTS AND
 AEROSPACE WORKERS
 Union
 
                                            Case No. O-AR-315
 
                                 DECISION
 
    This matter is before the Authority on an exception to the award of
 Arbitrator W. Scott Thomson filed by the Union under section 7122(a) of
 the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and
 part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.  The Agency did not
 file an opposition.
 
    The parties submitted to arbitration their dispute of whether a
 grievance pertaining to the grievant's removal /1/ was grievable and
 arbitrable under the terms of the parties' collective bargaining
 agreement, which agreement was negotiated under provisions of Executive
 Order No. 11491.  /2/ The Arbitrator noted that matters for which a
 statutory appeals procedure existed were excluded from coverage of the
 negotiated grievance procedure.  Because the Arbitrator determined the
 grievant's removal was clearly a matter for which a statutory appeals
 procedure existed within the meaning of the parties' agreement, he ruled
 that the grievance was not arbitrable.
 
    In its exception the Union contends that the award is contrary to the
 Statute.  Essentially, the Union argues that provisions of the Statute
 required the Arbitrator to find that after the enactment of the Statute
 grievances pertaining to removals were within the coverage of the
 parties' negotiated grievance procedure.
 
    The Union's exception however provides no basis for finding the award
 deficient.  Contrary to the assertion of the Union, it is clear that the
 enactment of the Statute did not operate to broaden the scope of the
 parties' negotiated grievance procedure so as to make the otherwise
 nonarbitrable matter involved in this case arbitrable.  International
 Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and Portsmouth Naval
 Shipyard, 8 FLRA No. 54 (1982).  Accordingly, the Union's exception is
 denied.  /3/ Issued, Washington, D.C., January 7, 1983
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       Leon B. Applewhaite, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ It is not disputed that the grievant's removal is an action
 covered under 5 U.S.C. 7512.
 
 
    /2/ Although the parties' collective bargaining agreement expired in
 1977, provisions of the negotiated grievance procedure were required to
 be maintained to the extent not modified, terminated, or superseded in
 accordance with law.  See U.S. Naval Station, Mayport, Florida and
 American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2010, AFL-CIO, 6 FLRA
 No. 26 (1981), at 4;  Interpretation and Guidance, 2 FLRA 273, 277-78
 (1979).
 
 
    /3/ Although the issue has not been raised by the parties, the
 Authority confirms its jurisdiction to resolve the Union's exception.
 Because the submitted issue and the Arbitrator's award pertained solely
 to the question of whether the grievance in this case was grievable and
 arbitrable under the terms of the parties' collective bargaining
 agreement, it is not apparent that the award relates to a matter
 described in section 7121(f) of the Statute.  See U.S. Immigration and
 Naturalization Service and American Federation of Government Employees,
 National Immigration and Naturalization Service Council, 6 FLRA No. 12
 (1981), at 2.