[ v20 p439 ]
20:0439(47)NG
The decision of the Authority follows:
20 FLRA No. 47 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 1738 Union and VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CENTER, SALISBURY, NORTH CAROLINA Agency Case No. 0-NG-1106 DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE The petition for review in this case comes before the Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), and raises an issue concerning the negotiability of one Union proposal. Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination. Union Proposal Section 19(C). Except in emergencies, employees assigned to established tours of duty will not have their assignments changed without at least fourteen days advance notice, unless agreed to by the employee. Procedures for changes in shift assignments are covered in Article 34, Section 8 of this supplement. This proposal, by its terms, would require the Agency to provide employees with two weeks advance notice before changing established tours of duty. In this regard, the disputed proposal herein is to the same effect as Union Provision 1 in American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1546 and Department of the Army, Sharpe Army Depot, Lathrop, California, 19 FLRA No. 118(1985), which also required the agency to provide employees with two weeks advance notice of changes in tours of duty and which the Authority found to be inconsistent with 5 CFR 610.121, an applicable Government-wide regulation. In that case the Authority, relying on its earlier decision in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2484 and U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick, Maryland, 17 FLRA No. 106(1985), petition for review filed sub nom. American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2848 v. FLRA, No. 85-1405 (D.C. Cir. July 3, 1985), found that the regulation obligated an agency head to revise an employee's administrative workweek to conform to the hours during which the employee will actually be required to work "(w)hen the head of the agency knows in advance of an administrative workweek" that a schedule revision is necessary. The Authority concluded in that case that the provisions would prevent the agency head from revising an employee's work schedule unless the need to change the schedule was apparent not less than two weeks prior to the rescheduling. Consequently, as the instant proposal would, in certain circumstances, also prevent the Agency from complying with a Government-wide regulation, it is, based on Sharpe Army Depot, and U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick, outside the duty to bargain pursuant to section 7117(a)(1) of the Statute. Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations IT IS ORDERED that the petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed. Issued, Washington, D.C., September 30, 1985 Henry B. Frazier III, Acting Chairman William J. McGinnis, Jr., Member FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY