12:0611(114)NG - NFFE Local 1650 and Forest Service, Angeles National Forest -- 1983 FLRAdec NG

 12 FLRA No. 114
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1650
 Union
 
 and
 
 U.S. FOREST SERVICE, ANGELES
 NATIONAL FOREST
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-510
 
                DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUES
 
    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 presents issues
 concerning the negotiability of two Union proposals.  /1/ Upon careful
 consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions,
 the Authority makes the following determinations.
 
                             Union Proposal 1
 
          Article 12.7 (second sentence):
 
          Official (duty) stations will be changed only in conjunction
       with a lateral or promotional reassignment.
 
    Union Proposal 1 is outside the duty to bargain because it interferes
 with management's right under section 7106(a)(2)(A) of the Statute to
 "assign" employees.  See American Federation of Government Employees,
 AFL-CIO and Air Force Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force
 Base, Ohio, 2 FLRA 604, 612, enforced sub nom. Department of Defense v.
 Federal Labor Relations Authority, 659 F.2d 1140 (D.C. Cir. 1981), cert.
 denied sub nom. AFGE v. FLRA, 455 U.S. 945.  Union Proposal 1, by
 restricting a change in an employee's current duty station only to those
 situations involving a lateral or promotional reassignment, effectively
 prohibits the Agency from assigning an employee to a lower graded
 position at another duty station.  Consequently, since Union Proposal 1
 would, in certain circumstances, prevent management from exercising its
 right under 7106(a)(2)(A) to "assign" employees, it is outside the duty
 to bargain.  See American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO,
 Social Sec