11:0125(31)NG - AFGE Local 2024 and Navy, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, NH -- 1983 FLRAdec NG

 11 FLRA No. 31
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION
 OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO,
 LOCAL 2024
 Union
 
 and
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,
 PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD,
 PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-493
 
                 DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE
 
    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).  The issue presented
 is the negotiability of the following Union proposal:
 
          Consistent with the objective and principles of FPM 531,
       Subchapter 2, reemployment of former employees to a bargaining
       unit position will be accomplished in a fair and equitable manner.
        The Union will be forwarded a copy of reemployment documents
       affecting Unit employees.  In the establishment of the rate of
       reemployment, the exercise of sound and reasonable managerial
       discretion will be followed.  (The underscored language is in
       dispute.)
 
 Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties'
 contentions, the Authority makes the following determinations.  Federal
 Personnel Manual Chapter 531 leaves agencies discretion in determining,
 inter alia, the rate of basic pay for a new employee who previously
 worked as a Federal employee.  The proposal would require the Agency to
 exercise that rate setting discretion with respect to former employees
 in a fair and even-handed manner.
 
    The Union states that its proposal is concerned with management's
 setting of pay rates for present members of the bargaining unit who may
 be released from employment in the future and subsequently reemployed
 into bargaining unit positions.  The Agency does not argue, and it does
 not otherwise appear, that the instant proposal is inconsistent with law
 or appropriate regulations.  The Agency's sole contention is that the
 proposal does not concern conditions of employment because the proposal
 would confer rights upon a class, former employees, who are not members
 of the bargaining unit.  However, this assertion does not accurately
 characterize the actual effect of the proposal.
 
    The Statute authorizes an exclusive representative to bargain over
 personnel policies, practices and matters affecting working conditions
 of employees in the bargaining unit.  /1/ In this regard, a bargaining
 proposal involves such conditions of employment if it relates to rights
 and obligations with respect to bargaining unit positions.  /2/ With
 regard to the instant case, it is clear that the Union's proposal could
 benefit former employees only if and when they are reemployed in
 bargaining unit positions.  Thus, the proposal concerns matters which
 are conditions of employment, and it is within the duty to bargain under
 the Statute.  /3/
 
    Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
 Regulations (5 CFR 2424.10), IT IS ORDERED that the Agency shall upon
 request (or as otherwise agreed to by the parties) bargain concerning
 the Union's proposal.  /4/ Issued, Washington, D.C., January 27, 1983
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       Leon B. Applewhaite, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ In this regard, see generally the discussions concerning
 conditions of employment in National Federation of Federal Employees,
 Local 1363 and Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison, Yongsan, Korea, 4 FLRA
 Nos. 8 and 23 (1980).
 
 
    /2/ See, e.g., National Treasury Employees Union and Internal Revenue
 Service, 7 FLRA No. 42 (1981) (Union Proposals 2-4);  National
 Federation of Federal Employees Local 1332 and Headquarters, U.S. Army
 Materiel Development and Readiness Command, Alexandria, Virginia, 6 FLRA
 No. 66 (1981) (Union Proposals I, II, IV);  American Federation of
 Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2578 and General Services
 Administration, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.,
 3 FLRA 603 (1980).
 
 
    /3/ In so deciding, the Authority notes that management has the right
 under section 7106(a)(2)(A) of the Statute to layoff employees subject
 to section 7106(b)(2) and (b)(3).  In the circumstances herein, the
 proposal constitutes an appropriate arrangement under section 7106(b)(3)
 for bargaining unit employees adversely affected by the exercise of
 management's right to layoff.
 
 
    /4/ In deciding that the Union's proposal is within the duty to
 bargain, the Authority, of course, makes no judgment as to its merits.