11:0156(36)UC - Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command and NAGE -- 1983 FLRAdec RP
[ v11 p156 ]
11:0156(36)UC
The decision of the Authority follows:
11 FLRA No. 36
U.S. ARMY MATERIEL DEVELOPMENT
AND READINESS COMMAND
Activity
and
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Petitioner
Case No. 3-UC-18
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority
under section 7112(d) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
Statute (the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of
the Authority. The Authority has reviewed the hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error.
The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Authority finds:
The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) filed the
instant petition seeking to consolidate 13 units within the U.S. Army
Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM) for which it is the
exclusive representative. /1/ (The units presently represented by NAGE
and included in the petition are set forth in the Appendix.) DARCOM
contends that the proposed consolidation, which would affect 8,536 (or
8.1%) of its total workforce of 104,121 employees at nine of its 66
installations, is not appropriate because it does not meet the unit
criteria set forth in section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute. /2/
Specifically, DARCOM argues that the missions and functions of the nine
DARCOM installations involved are sufficiently different as to work
against commonality. In this regard, DARCOM further argues that the
divergent missions and functions of the various installations require
the performance of different duties requiring different job skills and
result in no transfer of employees among the installations. Under these
circumstances, DARCOM contends, the proposed consolidated unit does not
constitute a distinct grouping of employees sharing a clear and
identifiable community of interest. Further, DARCOM argues that such
consolidation would not promote either effective dealings or efficiency
of operations inasmuch as its organization is decentralized with
authority vested in local installation commanders to establish and
administer civilian personnel policy, including negotiation and approval
of collective bargaining agreements, and consolidation would both
increase the cost of collective bargaining and adversely affect
long-standing local bargaining relationships.
NAGE, on the other hand, contends that the proposed consolidated unit
would enhance the quality and character of the labor-management
relations program in the federal public sector, and satisfies the
appropriate unit criteria set forth in section 7112(a)(1) of the
Statute. Thus, NAGE asserts that all of the employees in the proposed
consolidated unit are subject to similar personnel and labor relations
policies promulgated pursuant to Department of the Army regulations, and
further share a community of interest. In this regard, NAGE further
asserts that its status as exclusive representative for only 8% of the
DARCOM workforce does not render the proposed consolidation
inappropriate. Moreover, NAGE contends that negotiation of one master
agreement at the Command level would be more efficient and cost
effective, and thus would promote effective dealings and efficiency of
operations.
FACTS
DARCOM consists of a nationwide network of 66 military installations
and 250 separate units. It has 14 major subordinate commands: 3
materiel readiness commands, 6 research and development commands, 2
combined material readiness and research and development commands, a
depot systems command (headquarters of 21 Army depots) and a test and
evaluation command. Further, there are 45 separate staff activities
reporting directly to Headquarters, DARCOM and 57 project/product
managers with authority over specific types of weapons systems,
equipment or ammunition. DARCOM is responsible for the life cycle
materiel functions, including research and development; test and
evaluation; procurement and production; storage and distribution;
inventory; management; maintenance; and disposal.
The proposed consolidated unit would consist of employees working at
three depots and depot activities, two arsenals, one directorate, one
research and development laboratory, one materiel readiness command, and
one proving ground. The missions and functions of the nine affected
installations are as follows:
The Pueblo Army Depot Activity operates a supply depot activity under
the Command of Tooele Army Depot providing for the receipt, storage,
issuance and disposal of assigned commodities. The Savanna Army Depot
Activity provides for receipt, storage support (care of materiel in
storage, rewarehousing, preservation and packaging, set
assembly/disassembly, physical inventory, stock locator system and
training), renovation, and issuance functions. The Red River Depot
operates a supply depot providing for the receipt, storage, issuance,
maintenance and disposal of assigned commodities as well as providing
installation support to tenant activities. The Watervliet Arsenal
performs industrial engineering, procurement, fabrication, and product
assurance of assigned materiel, and provides administrative and
logistical support services to tenant activities. The Rock Island
Arsenal manufactures assigned materiel and provides required direct
support, including engineering and product assurance; and performs tool
set on Equipment Materiel and Basic Issue Item assembly for the U.S.
Army Armament Readiness Command (ARRCOM), U.S. Army Tank-Automotive
Materiel Readiness Command (TARCOM), and other national inventory
control points as required. The Natick Readiness and Development
Command accomplishes assigned research and development in the physical
and biological sciences, and engineering to meet military requirements
in the commodity areas of textiles, clothing, body armor, footwear,
insecticides and fungicides, subsistence, containers, food service
equipment, field support equipment (as assigned), tentage and equipage,
and air delivery equipment. The Eustis Directorate plans, develops and
accomplishes a portion of the laboratory's program and controls the
resources applied in support of the program, and develops
recommendations to satisfy Army Air mobility requirements. The Armament
Materiel Readiness Command exercises logistics (materiel readiness)
management, including follow-on-procurement; production; engineering
in support of production; industrial management; product assurance;
maintenance engineering and Integrated Logistics Support management;
value engineering; product improvement; materiel management;
configuration management; international logistics, tools and equipment
engineering; transportation and traffic management for assigned
systems/materiel; and executes the mission of single manager for
conventional ammunition for the Department of Defense. Lastly, the
Dugway Proving Ground plans, conducts, evaluates, and reports the
results of development and development-type tests, in accordance with
integrated testing cycle policies, and assesses the military value of
chemical warfare and biological defense systems, flame incendiary and
smoke obscurant systems.
The record reveals that DARCOM is decentralized, with authority
vested in local installation commanders to establish and administer
civilian personnel policy and labor-management relations policy, and to
negotiate and approve collective bargaining agreements. Although DARCOM
Headquarters conducts a post-signing review of installation agreements,
it neither participates in the local negotiations process nor controls
the negotiations. Each installation negotiates its own local agreement,
deals with the union on a day-to-day basis, resolves grievances, and
generally conducts labor management relations.
NAGE represents employees at 2 of DARCOM's 14 major subordinate
commands, 9 of the 66 DARCOM installations, 3 of the 19 depots and depot
activities, 2 of the 13 activities and 25 ammunition plants known as
Armaments Command, and 1 of the 11 testing activities. NAGE exclusively
represents 8,536 (8.1%) of DARCOM's total workforce of 104,121
employees, and represents all of the employees at only 2 of the 9
installations included in the petition.
In Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 5 FLRA No. 89
(1981), the Authority dismissed petitions to consolidate units noting
that section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute requires any unit found
appropriate to conform to the three criteria established by that
section-- a clear and identifiable community of interest among the
employees in the unit, the promotion of effective dealings with, and the
efficiency of the operations of, the agency involved. The Authority
further noted that section 7112(d) of the Statute, /3/ which provides
for the consolidation of existing units into a single more comprehensive
unit, requires that such consolidated unit meet the same three criteria
required of any proposed unit.
In addition to the Department of Transportation case, the Authority
has issued other decisions involving the proposed consolidation of units
under the Statute. /4/ In making its determinations on the
appropriateness of such proposed consolidated units, the Authority
considered several factors. As stated in Department of the Navy, U.S.
Marine Corps, 8 FLRA No. 4 (1982), primary among these factors, in
determining whether there was a community of interest, were: the degree
of commonality and integration of the mission and function of the
components involved; the distribution of the employees involved
throughout the organizational and geographical components of the agency;
the degree of similarity in the occupational undertakings of the
employees in the proposed unit; and the locus and scope of personnel
and labor relations authority and functions.
The Authority finds that the employees in the proposed consolidated
unit herein do not share a clear and identifiable community of interest.
The record reveals that the proposed unit would be limited to employees
at only 2 of the 14 major subordinate commands, 2 of the 13 activities
and 25 ammunition plants in the Armaments Command, and only 1 of 11
testing activities. Of the nine DARCOM installations included in the
petition, NAGE represents all employees at only two locations; the
other 57 DARCOM installations are not included at all. The proposed
consolidated unit includes only a relatively small portion of the
employees in each division of DARCOM with most of them having different
career interests and working conditions because of the uniqueness of
each mission. Further, there appears to be a near total lack of job
mobility from one NAGE unit to another. The job classifications and the
terms and conditions of employment at each location also appear to
relate to specific and unique local functions. The record also reveals
that the delegation of authority to each installation commander has
resulted in local control over personnel, labor relations (including
negotiating separate bargaining agreements) and working conditions.
Given these facts, the Authority finds that the petitioned for
consolidated unit would not ensure a clear and identifiable community of
interest among the employees involved.
The Authority further finds that it would not promote effective
dealings to require DARCOM-wide negotiations for a unit wholly
unrepresented in 12 of the 14 DARCOM major commands and 57 of the 66
DARCOM installations, and thus not reflective of DARCOM's organizational
structure. Moreover, as noted above, effective supervision, personnel
authority and control of labor relations have been historically
delegated to the local installations and have resulted in effective
bargaining relationships, not only with NAGE, but with some 13 other
labor organizations (exclusively representing approximately 70% of
DARCOM's employees) as well. Thus, the Authority concludes that
effective dealings with DARCOM, and the efficiency of its operations,
would not be promoted by the proposed unit.
Accordingly, the Authority finds that the proposed consolidated unit
is not appropriate, and will order that the petition be dismissed.
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 3-UC-18 be, and it hereby
is, dismissed. Issued, Washington, D.C., January 28, 1983
Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
Leon B. Applewhaite, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
APPENDIX
UNIT 1
Included: All non-supervisory, non-professional employees at PUAD
and the Pueblo Army Depot Field Calibration Activity at Fort Bliss,
Texas.
Excluded: All employees as stated in section 10 of Executive Order
11491, as amended, and those units covered by exclusive recognition
which are Guard units, Fire Prevention and Protection Units,
Communications Center Units, Boiler and Domestic Heating Units and 6th
Army Medical Unit which are serviced by PUAD through servicing agreement
and all non-appropriated employees.
UNIT 2
Included: All non-supervisory Wage Grade employees of the Employer
at the Savanna Army Depot, Savanna, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials, Quality Assurance Specialist
(Ammunition Surveillance) personnel and Interns, professional employees,
Civilian Personnel Technicians, and other personnel as excluded by
Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 3
Included: All non-supervisory employees in the Fire Protection and
Prevention Branch at the Savanna Army Depot, Savanna, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials, Quality Assurance Specialist
(Ammunition Surveillance) personnel and Interns, professional employees,
Civilian Personnel Technicians, and other personnel as excluded by
Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 4
Included: All non-supervisory employees in the Security Office at
Savanna Army Depot, Savanna, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials, Quality Assurance Specialist
(Ammunition Surveillance) personnel and Interns, professional employees,
Civilian Personnel Technicians, and other personnel as excluded by
Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 5
Included: All non-supervisory class-act employees of the Employer at
the Savanna Army Depot, Savanna, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials, Quality Assurance Specialist
(Ammunition Surveillance) personnel and Interns, professional employees,
Civilian Personnel Technicians, and other personnel as excluded by
Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 6
Included: All non-supervisory, professional employees located at
Headquarters, United States Army Armament Materiel Readiness Command,
Rock Island, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials, employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity, supervisors,
guards, non-professional General Schedule (GS) employees and Wage Grade
(WG) employees.
UNIT 7
Included: All General Schedule (GS) employees, including temporary
employees with appointments of more than 180 days, employed at Rock
Island Arsenal and the United States Army Communications Command
Agency-Rock Island and Midwest Commissary Field Office-Rock Island
Commissary.
Excluded: All management officials and supervisors, all employees
engaged in Federal personnel work in other than a purely clerical
capacity, guards, firefighters, professional employees, Wage Grade
employees and temporary employees with appointments of less than 180
days based upon a specific event non-recurring.
UNIT 8
Included: All employees of the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories at
Natick, Massachusetts and at Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Excluded: Management executives, employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than purely clerical capacities and supervisors
as set forth in Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 9
Included: All civilian employees paid from appropriated funds at the
Watervliet Arsenal except the following:
Excluded: 1. All supervisors and management officials.
2. All employees engaged in Federal personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity.
3. All professional employees.
4. All Industrial Engineering Technicians in Work Measurement
Section, Production Planning and Control Division.
5. All secretaries and clerk-stenographers GS-04 and above, to Staff
Office Chiefs, Directorate Chiefs and above.
6. All employees, GS-09 and above, identified in the following
managerial classes: 018, 110, 341, 343, 345, 560, 1152 and those
employees, GS-12 and above, in the 334 class.
7. All guards.
8. All staff advisors to the Commanding Officers, e.g., EEO Officer,
Small Business Advisor and Administrative Officer.
UNIT 10
Included: All non-supervisory Wage Grade employees, temporary Wage
Grade employees of Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Texas, and the U.S.
Army Communications Command Detachment, Red River Army Depot, Texarkana,
Texas.
Excluded: Management officials, professional employees, General
Schedule employees, employees assigned to exclusive units in the
Electrician's Unit; Mobile Rail Unit; non-supervisory Wage Grade
employees in the Property and Procurement Division; Plumbers,
Pipefitters, Welders and Fixed Industrial Equipment Mechanics Unit;
Water Treatment Plant Operators Unit; employees assigned to tenant
activities other than the U.S. Army Communications Command Detachment,
Red River Army Depot; guards; employees engaged in Federal personnel
work in other than a purely clerical capacity and supervisors as defined
in Executive Order 11491, as amended.
UNIT 11
Included: All appropriated fund employees at Dugway Proving Ground.
Excluded: All management officials, supervisors, guards,
professional personnel and employees engaged in Federal personnel work
in other than a purely clerical capacity.
UNIT 12
Included: All General Schedule non-supervisory professional
employees at Dugway Proving Ground.
Excluded: All management officials, supervisors, guards,
professional personnel and employees engaged in Federal personnel work
except in a purely clerical capacity.
UNIT 13
Included: All employees of the Eustis Directorate, U.S. Army Air
Mobility Research and Development Laboratory paid under appropriated
funds.
Excluded: Supervisors and professional employees of the above-named
Activity.
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ NAGE also filed a separate petition (Case No. 3-UC-21) for
consolidation of its units within the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine
Command (TRADOC) which the Regional Director consolidated with this
case. Thereafter, the Authority granted TRADOC's request to sever the
two cases for the reasons stated therein. See U.S. Army Training and
Doctrine Command, 11 FLRA No. 28 (1983).
/2/ Sec. 7112. Determination of appropriate units for labor
organization representation
(a)(1) The Authority shall determine the appropriateness of any
unit. The Authority shall determine in each case whether, in
order to ensure employees the fullest freedom in exercising the
rights guaranteed under this chapter, the appropriate unit should
be established on an agency, plant, installation, functional, or
other basis and shall determine any unit to be an appropriate unit
only if the determination will ensure a clear and identifiable
community of interest among the employees in the unit and will
promote effective dealings with, and efficiency of the operations
of, the agency involved.
/3/ Section 7112(d) provides as follows:
(d) Two or more units which are in an agency and for which a
labor organization is the exclusive representative may, upon
petition by the agency or labor organization, be consolidated with
or without an election into a single larger unit if the Authority
considers the larger unit to be appropriate. The Authority shall
certify the labor organization as the exclusive representative of
the new larger unit.
/4/ See Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dallas, Texas, 5 FLRA
No. 90 (1981); Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, 5
FLRA No. 91 (1981); Air Force Logistics Command, United States Air
Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 7 FLRA No. 33 (1981);
Department of the Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, 8 FLRA No. 4 (1982).