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10:0633(103)RO
The decision of the Authority follows:
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.