12:0268(61)NG - IFPTE Local 4 and Navy, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, NH -- 1983 FLRAdec NG

 12 FLRA No. 61
 
 INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF
 PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL
 ENGINEERS, LOCAL 4
 Union
 
 and
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,
 PORTSMOUTH NAVAL SHIPYARD
 PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-674
 
                   ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR REVIEW
 
    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 one Union proposal.  /1/ For the
 following reasons, the Union's petition for review must be dismissed.
 
    The record indicates that the Union sought to negotiate on the
 inclusion of certain procedures involving employee rights in a new
 Agency instruction governing the counseling of employees.  The Agency
 argued that the new instruction merely standardized the form to be used
 by supervisors in recording counseling sessions and therefore did not
 result in a change in working conditions which would give rise to a
 bargaining obligation on its part.
 
    Prior to initiating the instant petition, the Union filed with the
 Authority an unfair labor practice charge alleging that the Agency had
 refused to bargain over the new instruction concerning employee
 counseling.  Upon investigation, the Regional Director found that
 implementation of the new instruction did not constitute a change in
 working conditions so as to give rise to a bargaining obligation, and
 dismissed the charge.  No appeal was taken to the General Counsel.
 
    In the absence of a duty to bargain, an issue concerning the scope of
 bargaining, i.e., whether the disputed proposal herein concerns
 conditions of employment of bargaining unit employees, is not
 appropriate for resolution by the Authority.  Thus, it is concluded that
 the negotiability issue raised in this proceeding was rendered moot by
 the Regional Director's decision that the new instruction had merely
 standardized the form for recording counseling sessions, and that the
 Agency therefore had no obligation to bargain.  See National Federation
 of Federal Employees, Local 1363 and Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison,
 Yongsan, Korea, 8 FLRA No. 26 (1982).
 
    Accordingly, apart from other considerations, IT IS ORDERED that the
 Union's petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed.  Issued,
 Washington, D.C., June 28, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ The Union's petition for review initially sought determinations
 on two proposals.  However, during the pendency of this appeal, the
 parties reached agreement on one of the proposals and the Union
 consequently withdrew its petition as to that proposal.