[ v15 p962 ]
15:0962(179)CU
The decision of the Authority follows:
15 FLRA No. 179
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
DEFENSE CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION
SERVICES REGION CLEVELAND, DEFENSE
CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION SERVICES
PLANT REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE,
GOODYEAR AEROSPACE, AKRON, OHIO
Activity
and
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES,
LOCAL 73
Labor Organization/Petitioner
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, SIXTH DISTRICT
Intervenor /1/
Case No. 5-CU-30008
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
DEFENSE CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION
SERVICES REGION CLEVELAND, DEFENSE
CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION SERVICES
PLANT REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE,
GOODYEAR AEROSPACE, AKRON, OHIO
Activity
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
AFL-CIO, SIXTH DISTRICT
Labor Organization/Petitioner
Case No. 5-RO-30012
DECISION, ORDER AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon petitions duly filed under section 7111(b)(1) and (2) of the
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), a
consolidated hearing was held before a hearing officer of the Authority.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the contentions of the
parties, the Authority makes the following findings: The Petitioner in
Case No. 5-CU-30008, National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 73
(NFFE), seeks to accrete approximately 43 non-professional employees of
the Defense Contract Administration Services Plant Representative
Office, Goodyear Aerospace (DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace) to its existing
unit consisting of non-professional employees at Defense Contract
Administration Services Region Cleveland Headquarters (DCASR Cleveland
Headquarters), Defense Contract Administration Services Management Area
Cleveland (DCASMA Cleveland) and DCASPRO Gould. The NFFE contends that
the employees at issue should accrete to its current unit, as such unit
would be more appropriate than the unit proposed by AFGE in its petition
in Case No. 5-RO-30012. In arguing this position, the NFFE asserts that
the non-professional employees of DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace share a
greater community of interest with the non-professional employees in its
current unit than with the non-professional employees in AFGE's current
unit.
AFGE, the Petitioner in Case No. 5-RO-30012, seeks elections among
the employees of DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace to determine whether the
non-professional employees wish to be represented by AFGE as part of the
consolidated AFGE-Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) non-professional unit
and whether the professional employees wish to be represented by AFGE as
part of the consolidated AFGE-DLA professional unit.
The Activity's position is that either the unit proposed by NFFE
Local 73 or the two units proposed by AFGE would be appropriate based on
the parties' bargaining history and current labor-management dealings.
The Activity further contends that the DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace
non-professional employees did not accrete to the existing NFFE Local 73
unit, and that an election is the proper method for either union to gain
exclusive recognition.
The event that led to the filing of these petitions was a transfer of
plant contract services at Goodyear Aerospace from the Navy Sea Systems
Command to DCASR Cleveland on June 27, 1982. From the record, it does
not appear that the employees sought were represented by any labor
organization while they were under the Navy Sea Systems Command.
DCASR Cleveland is one of nine field regions of the Defense Logistics
Agency. It provides contract administration services in support of the
Department of Defense and other Federal agencies. The Activity has a
regional headquarters and other offices in various locations throughout
the geographic area under its jurisdiction which are responsible for
achieving the Activity's mission. These second level offices are called
"DCASMAs" and "DCASPROs." DCASMAs perform contract administration
services for government agencies served by the Activity in a particular
geographical area, while the DCASPROs are established to serve a single
contractor and to provide specified operational contract administration
services in support of agencies served by the Activity. Each reports
directly to the Activity. AFGE represents employees in three of the
five Activity DCASMAs, including those in Detroit, Grand Rapids and
Ottawa, as part of its professional and non-professional consolidated
nationwide AFGE-DLA units. NFFE Local 75 represents professional and
non-professional employees of DCASMA Dayton in a single unit. NFFE
Local 73 represents non-professional employees of DCASMA Cleveland as
part of its DCASR Cleveland non-professional unit. There are currently
four DCASPROs within DCASR Cleveland, including DCASPRO Goodyear
Aerospace. DCASPROs Williams International and Teledyne CA & E are part
of the AFGE-DLA consolidated nationwide units. /2/ DCASPRO Gould is
part of the NFFE Local 73 DCASR Cleveland non-professional unit. NFFE
Local 73 also represents the non-professional employees of DCASR
Cleveland Headquarters. In sum, both AFGE and NFFE currently represent
employees in units similar to the employees sought at DCASPRO Goodyear
Aerospace. The only unrepresented employees of DCASR Cleveland are the
DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace professional and non-professional employees
and the professional employees of DCASR Cleveland Headquarters, DCASMA
Cleveland and DCASPRO Gould.
The record reveals that the commanders of DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace
and DCASMA Cleveland report directly to the DCASR Cleveland Commander
and that their organizational levels are parallel; that DCASPRO
Goodyear Aerospace Commander has hiring and promotion authority;
personnel actions by the DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace Commander are
reviewed by DCASR Cleveland for compliance with EEO statutes; DCASPRO
Goodyear Aerospace Commander has discharge authority with procedural
review at DCASR Cleveland level; the minimum area of consideration for
merit promotion in grades one to six is the commuting area which
includes DCASR Cleveland Headquarters, DCASMA Cleveland, DCASPRO Gould
and DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace; the Commander of DCASPRO Goodyear
Aerospace has used a DCASR-wide area for merit promotions; and for
reductions-in-force, the competitive area would include DCASR Cleveland
Headquarters, DCASMA Cleveland, DCASPRO Gould and DCASPRO Goodyear
Aerospace.
Job contact between DCASMA Cleveland and DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace
employees is limited. There are infrequent safety inspections during
which DCASPRO employees accompany DCASMA employees at the plant, and
some contact is made in performing Contract Data Input Function and
Industrial Preparedness and Readiness Plant Preparation. Also, with the
transfer of function from Navy Sea Systems Command, DCASR Cleveland
Headquarters, assumed responsibility for personnel, labor relations,
some initial training, and fiscal servicing for DCASPRO Goodyear
Aerospace.
Based on the foregoing, the Authority finds that the non-professional
employees of DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace share a community of interest
with the employees currently in the non-professional unit represented by
NFFE Local 73. However, the record does not show that the DCASPRO
Goodyear Aerospace employees accreted to NFFE's unit when they were
transferred into DCASR Cleveland from Navy Sea Systems Command, as they
have not become so intermingled with other employees in the NFFE Local
73's unit as to lose their separate identity. In this regard, the
evidence shows that although the DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace employees
are in the same commuting area as the employees NFFE currently
represents, they are still geographically separate, have limited contact
with and are organizationally independent of the employees represented
by NFFE. The Authority will find an accretion only where the evidence
clearly shows that the employees at issue have been so organizationally
and operationally integrated with the employees of the established
exclusively recognized unit as to lose their separate identity. Having
found otherwise herein, the Authority shall dismiss NFFE's petition in
Case No. 5-CU-30008 seeking to accrete the non-professional employees of
DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace into its established exclusively recognized
unit. See e.g., U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 8
FLRA 176 (1982). /3/
The Authority finds further that AFGE's petition in Case No.
5-RO-30012 raises a question concerning representation regarding the
employees of DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace. The Activity's position is
that either the non-professional unit proposed by NFFE Local 73 in Case
No. 5-CU-30008 or the two units proposed by AFGE would be appropriate
based on the parties' bargaining history and current labor-management
dealings. The Authority agrees. Thus, based on past bargaining history
and labor-management dealings, including a regional supplemental
agreement for the AFGE unit employees in DCASR Cleveland, inclusion in
either the AFGE-DLA consolidated nationwide units or the NFFE Local 73's
DCASR Cleveland unit would result in effective dealings and efficiency
of agency operations. Further, the DCASPRO Goodyear Aerospace employees
would share a community of interest with employees of either unit, since
they share common agency missions and functions. Therefore, both the
unit, NFFE Local 73 sought through accretion, and the two units
petitioned for by AFGE meet the criteria of section 7112(a)(1) of the
Statute /4/ and are appropriate. In view of this finding, which
recognizes that the considerations in favor of each are evenly balanced,
the determining factor should be the desire of the employees themselves.
The Authority concludes that a self-determination election must be
held. /5/
The Authority concludes that it would effectuate the purposes and
policies of the Statute to allow NFFE Local 73, if it chooses, to
participate in the election to be held. This conclusion is based on the
fact that NFFE Local 73 is considered by the Authority to be a party
under section 2421.11 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations by reason
of its filing of the petition in Case No. 5-CU-30008 seeking to accrete
the non-professional employees in question and its being represented at
the consolidated hearing in this matter. Accordingly, NFFE Local 73 may
be placed on the ballot if it submits to the appropriate Regional
Director within 10 days of the date below sufficient showing of interest
to support intervention. /6/
The elections will be conducted in the following voting groups:
Voting Group (a): All nonsupervisory professional employees of
the Defense Contract Administration Services Region Cleveland,
Defense Contract Administration Plant Representative Office,
Goodyear Aerospace, Akron, Ohio, excluding all non-professional
employees, management officials, supervisors and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the
Statute.
Voting Group (b): All nonsupervisory non-professional
employees of the Defense Contract Administration Services Region
Cleveland, Defense Contract Administration Plant Representative
Office, Goodyear Aerospace, Akron, Ohio, excluding all
professional employees, management officials, supervisors and
employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7)
of the Statute.
The employees in voting group (a) will be asked whether they wish to
be represented for the purpose of exclusive recognition by AFGE or no
union. If a majority of the employees in voting group (a) vote for
AFGE, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be included
in the existing AFGE-DLA nationwide consolidated professional unit and
the appropriate Regional Director will issue a certification to that
effect.
The employees in voting group (b) will be asked whether they wish to
be represented for the purpose of exclusive recognition by AFGE, NFFE
Local 73, /7/ or neither. If a majority of the employees in voting
group (b) vote for AFGE, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be included in the existing AFGE-DLA nationwide consolidated
non-professional unit and the appropriate Regional Director will issue a
certification to that effect. If a majority of the employees in voting
group (b) vote for NFFE Local 73, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to be included in the existing NFFE Local 73 DCASR
Cleveland non-professional unit and the appropriate Regional Director
will issue a certification to that effect.
ORDER AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
An election by secret ballot shall be conducted among the employees
in the voting groups described above as soon as feasible. The
appropriate Regional Director shall supervise or conduct the election,
as appropriate, subject to the Authority's Rules and Regulations.
Eligible to vote are those in the respective voting groups who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date below,
including employees who did not work during that period because they
were out ill, or on vacation or on furlough, including those in the
military service who appear in person at the polls. Ineligible to vote
are employees who have quit or were discharged for cause since the
designated payroll period and who have not been rehired or reinstated
before the election date. Those eligible to vote in voting group (a)
shall vote on whether they desire to be represented for the purpose of
exclusive recognition by AFGE, or by no union. Those eligible to vote
in voting group (b), subject to the proviso above regarding NFFE Local
73, shall vote whether they desire to be represented for the purpose of
exclusive recognition by AFGE, by NFFE Local 73, or neither.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 5-CU-30008 be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
Issued, Washington, D.C., August 31, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Sixth
District (AFGE) was granted intervenor status in Case No. 5-CU-30008 at
the hearing.
/2/ See Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Contract Administration
Services Region, Cleveland, Ohio, 11 FLRA No. 97 (1983).
/3/ NFFE's position is that the employees at issue should accrete to
its unit because the employees have a greater community of interest with
the employees in its unit than with the employees in AFGE's unit. As
noted, this is not the test for an accretion.
/4/ Section 7112(a)(1) provides:
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.
/5/ See, e.g., Department of Defense Dependents Schools, 6 FLRA 297,
310 (1981), wherein the Authority similarly concluded that a
self-determination election would best effectuate the policies of the
Statute.
/6/ See Section 2422.5 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations where
a showing of interest of 10 percent (10%) or more of the employees at
issue is required for intervention.
/7/ As noted above, NFFE Local 73 must submit a timely and sufficient
showing of interest in order to appear on the ballot.