10:0670(112)AR - Watervliet Arsenal, Army and NAGE Local R2-98 -- 1982 FLRAdec AR

 10 FLRA No. 112
 
 WATERVLIET ARSENAL,
 DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
 Activity
 
 and
 
 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
 LOCAL R2-98
 Union
 
                                            Case No. O-AR-191
 
                                 DECISION
 
    This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of
 Arbitrator John E. Sands filed by the Agency under section 7122(a) of
 the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and
 part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.  /1/ The Office of
 Personnel Management filed an amicus curiae brief.
 
    The dispute in this matter concerns the 1979 wage survey for purposes
 of fixing and adjusting the wage schedules for prevailing rate employees
 in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy wage area.  The wages of the employees
 involved in this case are governed by the Prevailing Rate Systems Act of
 1972 which is codified at 5 U.S.C. 5341-5349 and which is commonly
 referred to as the prevailing rate statute.  Section 5341 states the
 general policy of the statute that rates of pay of prevailing rate
 employees are to be adjusted from time to time as nearly as is
 consistent with the public interest in accordance with the prevailing
 rates paid for comparable work in the local area by the private sector.
 Section 5343 establishes the basic mechanism to carry out this policy
 which has been implemented by uniform instructions in Federal Personnel
 Manual Supplement 532-1, subchapter S-5.  At the time of the dispute in
 this case, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) (now the Office of
 Personnel Management) was responsible for defining geographical wage
 areas and for designating a lead agency for each area.  5 U.S.C.
 5343(a).  In accordance with the prevailing rate statute, the lead
 agency conducts a wage survey in the area, analyzes THE DATA, AND
 DEVELOPS AND ESTABLISHES APPROPRIATE WAGE SCHEDULES AND rates
 for
 prevailing rate employees which in most instances all agencies with
 prevailing rate employees in the wage area must apply.  Id.
 
    In terms of this case, CSC had designated the Department of Defense
 (DOD) as the lead agency in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy wage area.  As
 the lead agency, DOD designated Watervliet Arsenal as the host activity
 which obligated the Arsenal to provide support facilities and clerical
 assistance for the wage survey.  FPM Supp. 532-1, subchapter S5-3.  DOD
 additionally established a local wage survey committee which included a
 representative of National Association of Government Employees Local
 R2-98.  See id.
 
    At the time of the dispute in this case, FPM Supp. 532-1, appendix C
 provided for full-scale wage surveys in even-numbered years for the
 Albany-Schenectady-Troy wage area.  The 1979 wage survey was therefore
 originally scheduled to be an interim survey-- a wage-change survey to
 update the 1978 full-scale survey.  However, DOD requested of CSC under
 FPM Supp. 532-1, subchapter S5-3 that the survey schedule for
 Albany-Schenectady-Troy be changed to provide for a full-scale survey in
 odd-numbered years commencing in 1979.  That request was expressly
 approved by CSC in a letter to DOD in October 1978, but the change was
 not incorporated into the FPM until April 1980.  Pursuant to the Octo