10:0633(103)RO - Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, Little Rock, AR and AFGE Local 3266 and NFFE Local 871 and IBEW Local 2219 -- 1982 FLRAdec RP

 10 FLRA No. 103
 
 U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
 LITTLE ROCK DISTRICT
 LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
 Activity
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 3266, AFL-CIO
 Labor Organization/Petitioner
 
 and
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 871
 Incumbent/Intervenor
 
 and
 
 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL
 WORKERS, LOCAL 2219, AFL-CIO
 Incumbent/Intervenor /1/
 
                                            Case No. 6-RO-85
 
                            DECISION AND ORDER
 
    Upon a petition duly filed under section 7111(b)(1) of the Federal
 Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), a hearing was
 held before a hearing officer of the Authority.  The Authority has
 reviewed the hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds
 that they are free from prejudicial error.  The rulings are hereby
 affirmed.
 
    Upon the entire record in this case, the Authority finds:  The
 Petitioner, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3266,
 AFL-CIO (AFGE), seeks to exclusively represent all non-supervisory,
 non-professional employees of the Millwood Resident Office, whose work
 stations are located at Millwood Lake, De Queen Lake, Dierko Lake, and
 Gillham Lake, Arkansas.  The Millwood Resident Office is part of the
 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, Little Rock Arkansas
 (the Activity).  Excluded would be all professional employees,
 management officials, supervisors, and employees described in section
 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.  /2/
 
    The mission of the Little Rock District is to plan, design, and
 construct river, harbor and flood control works;  to maintain and
 operate completed flood control, river and harbor facilities or to
 exercise general supervision over the maintenance of these facilities
 when local interests have operating responsibility;  to make survey
 investigations to determine the engineering and economic feasibility of
 adopting Federal projects or modifying existing projects to conform with
 specific Congressional authorization;  to administer the laws concerning
 protection and preservation of the navigable waters of the District;  to
 acquire, manage, and dispose of real estate;  to act as point of contact
 between Arkansas State government agencies and four Corps Districts and
 two Divisions which have operating responsibilities in the State;  to
 provide review and inspection services to the U.S. Environmental
 Protection Agency;  and to provide review and support services to the
 State of Arkansas for the inspection of non-Federal dams.  The Little
 Rock District is organizationally composed of a District Office and nine
 field offices, including the Millwood Resident Office.  The Millwood
 Resident Office includes the Tri-Lakes of Gillham, Dierko and De Queen,
 which are lake reservoirs.  The Millwood Resident Office shares similar
 mission and functional responsibilities with other resident offices that
 have lake reservoir responsibilities in the District.
 
    The Activity contends that the petitioned for unit is not appropriate
 under the criteria of section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute, /3/ as the
 employees sought do not share a community of interest separate and
 distinct from other non-professional employees in the Little Rock
 District, currently represented by various other labor organizations.
 /4/ It further contends that the unit sought would result in
 fragmentation and proliferation of units in the Little Rock District
 resulting in an adverse impact on effective dealings and efficiency of
 agency operations.  The Activity contends that, to avoid this result,
 the employees sought should be placed in any one or more of the existing
 exclusively recognized units.  NFFE contends that the Millwood Resident
 Office employees should be accreted into its District-wide residual
 unit.
 
    The record reveals that the employees sought share job
 classifications in common with those in the other components of the
 Activity.  Further, the employees sought share the same working
 conditions and are covered by the same personnel policies and practices
 as all other non-professional employees of the Activity.  Thus, the
 employees are in the same District-wide area of consideration for
 reduction-in-force and promotion actions.  Moreover, the District Office
 is responsible for the overall policy development and program evaluation
 of all components of the Activity, including the administration of all
 labor-management relations functions, which are centralized in its
 Management and Employees Relations Branch.  Accordingly, the Authority
 concludes that the unit which the Petitioner seeks to represent is not
 appropriate for exclusive recognition under section 7112(a)(1) of the
 Statute because the employees sought do not have a clear and
 identifiable community of interest separate and distinct from other
 employees in the Little Rock District.
 
    With regard to Intervenor NFFE's contention that the employees sought
 herein should be accreted to its District-wide residual unit, the
 Authority finds that, except for Wage Board reservoir employees, the
 employees of the Millwood Resident Office sought herein share a clear
 and identifiable community of interest with the employees presently in
 the NFFE unit, who share the same job classifications, working
 conditions, personnel policies and practices, and are also in the same
 District-wide area of consideration for reduction-in-force and promotion
 actions.  Moreover, the administration of all labor-management relations
 functions is centralized in the District Office's Management and
 Employees Relations Branch.  Thus, including the foregoing employees in
 NFFE's residual unit meets the community of interest criterion and will
 promote effective dealings and efficiency of agency operations since it
 will avoid fragmentation of employees having identical job
 classifications.  Therefore, the Authority concludes that, except for
 reservoir employees, the employees of the Millwood Resident Office
 sought herein shall be included in the NFFE District-wide unit.  /5/
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 6-RO-85, be, and
 it hereby is, dismissed to the extent that it seeks a separate unit of
 all non-supervisory, non-professional employees of the Millwood Resident
 Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, Little Rock,
 Arkansas.
 
    IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that the unit for which the National
 Federation of Federal Employees, Local 871 was certified on September 2,
 1971, be, and it hereby is, clarified by including in said unit those
 eligible employees of the Millwood Resident Office, except for the Wage
 Board reservoir employees, who were administratively transferred to the
 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, Little Rock,
 Arkansas, as a result of a reorganization instituted on October 1, 1980.
  Issued, Washington, D.C., December 10, 1982
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       Leon B. Applewhaite, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ In a letter to the Authority's Regional Office, the President of
 Local 2219, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO
 (IBEW), indicated that IBEW wished to withdraw as a contender to
 represent the employees at issue herein.  IBEW was not represented at
 the hearing.  The Authority shall consider such action by IBEW as a
 disclaimer of interest in representing the unit sought herein.
 
 
    /2/ The Millwood Resident Office was organizationally part of the
 Tulsa District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until it was
 administratively transferred, intact, to the Little Rock District on
 October 1, 1980.  While they had been part of the Tulsa District, the
 Millwood Resident Office employees were exclusively represented as part
 of a larger unit in the Tulsa District by the Petitioner herein, AFGE
 Local 3266.
 
 
    /3/ Section 7112(a)(1) provides in pertinent part:
 
    Sec. 7112.  Determination of appropriate units for labor organization
 
          representation
 
          (a)(1) The Authority 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.
 
 
    /4/ As applicable herein, IBEW exclusively represents two
 district-wide units in the Little Rock District, a unit of
 non-supervisory Wage Board reservoir employees and a unit of
 non-professional hydroelectric generating plant employees, and the
 Incumbent/Intervenor, National Federation of Federal Employees, Local
 871 (NFFE), on September 2, 1971, was certified as exclusive
 representative for a then district-wide residual unit of all full-time
 and part-time non-professional employees, Classification Act (GS) and
 Wage Grade employees of the Activity.  The NFFE certification
 specifically excludes "employees of Units having Exclusive Recognition
 currently, as follows:  NFFE LU 1679, Pine Bluff Resident Office, IBEW
 LU 2219 Power Plant employees, and IBEW LU 2219 Reservoir employees."
 
 
    /5/ As to the remaining employees of the Millwood Office who are
 reservoir employees, as previously noted (supra n. 1), IBEW is the
 exclusive representative of a unit of all Wage Board reservoir employees
 within the Activity, but has disclaimed interest in the unit as sought
 in the petition.  Thus, the Authority at this time will take no action
 with regard to such employees, who appear to share a community of
 interest with the employees represented by IBEW.