19:0048(6)NG - NFFE Local 15 and Army Armament Munitions and Chemical Command, Rock Island Arsenal, IL -- 1985 FLRAdec NG

 19 FLRA No. 6
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 15
 Union
 
 and
 
 U.S. ARMY ARMAMENT MUNITIONS
 AND CHEMICAL COMMAND,
 ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, ILLINOIS
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-1022
 
                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 XXI Leave
 
          Section 13 Leave Without Pay
 
          a.  It shall be the policy of the employer to grant leave
       without pay (LWOP) under the following circumstances:
 
          1).  For educational purposes which would contribute to the
       best interests of the organization.
 
          2).  For recovery from illness or disability not of a permanent
       or disqualifying nature, after all sick and annual leave are
       exhausted.
 
          3).  Pending final action by the Office of Personnel Management
       (OPM) on a claim for disability retirement upon exhaustion of all
       sick and annual leave, and pending final action by the Bureau of
       Employees' Compensation on a claim for employment connected injury
       or disease.
 
          4).  To avoid a break in the continuity of service for
       conditional employees who must relocate because they are
       dependents of service members or of Federal employees who are
       obliged to move on rotational assignments or upon the transfer of
       a function o