12:0548(105)NG - AFGE Council 236 and GSA, National Archives and Records Service -- 1983 FLRAdec NG

 12 FLRA No. 105
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, COUNCIL 236, AFL-CIO
 Union
 
 and
 
 GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,
 NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
 SERVICE
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-788
 
                   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
 relating to the negotiability of one Union proposal.  For the following
 reasons, the Union's petition for review must be dismissed.
 
    The record indicates that the disputed proposal was proffered by the
 Union in negotiations over implementation of an arbitrator's award.  The
 Agency contended, inter alia, that the proposal would change or amend
 the parties' national agreement and therefore declined to bargain on it.
  Subsequent to the filing of the instant petition, the Agency, as
 provided in the national agreement, submitted the proposal to the
 parties at the national level to ascertain whether the proposal was
 consistent with the national agreement.  The Union and Agency
 representatives at the national level determined that the subject matter
 of the proposal was already covered by the national agreement and
 recommended that negotiations at the local level on the proposal be
 discontinued and that the petition filed in this case be withdrawn.
 
    The Authority concludes that the circumstances herein do not give
 rise to a negotiability dispute which the Authority may properly review
 at this time pursuant to section 7117 of the Statute and part 2424 of
 the Authority's Rules and Regulations.  The essence of the dispute
 between the parties now concerns the question of the Agency's obligation
 to bargain, i.e., whether negotiation at the local level on the Union's
 proposal is barred by provisions of the national agreement, or whether
 the Agency has otherwise refused to bargain over the proposal, and not
 the negotiability of the proposal itself.  Thus, resolution of the
 dispute, which turns on interpretation of provisions of the national
 agreement, should be accomplished through use of whatever mechanisms the
 parties have established for that purpose in their national agreement,
 or by resort to the unfair labor practice procedures under section 7118
 of the Statute, as may be appropriate.  See, e.g., American Federation
 of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 1917 and U.S. Department of
 Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York City District
 Office, 4 FLRA No. 25 (1980).
 
    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., August 12, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY