12:0618(117)RO - Mississippi NG Mates Shop, Camp Shelby, MS and ACT, Inc. -- 1983 FLRAdec RP

 12 FLRA No. 117
 
 MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARD
 MATES SHOP, CAMP SHELBY,
 MISSISSIPPI
 Activity
 
 and
 
 ASSOCIATION OF CIVILIAN TECHNICIANS, INC.
 Labor Organization/Petitioner
 
                                            Case No. 4-RO-20015
 
                            DECISION AND ORDER
 
    Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority
 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 hearing officer's rulings made at the
 hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
 
    Upon the entire record in this case, including the parties'
 contentions, the Authority makes the following findings:  The
 Petitioner, Association of Civilian Technicians, Inc. (the Union), seeks
 to represent all Federal wage grade and general schedule employees in
 the Mississippi National Guard, Mobilization and Training Equipment Site
 (MATES), Camp Shelby, Mississippi (the Activity), excluding all
 professional employees, management officials, supervisors, and employees
 described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
 The Activity opposes the petitioned for unit, contending that it is not
 appropriate under the criteria set forth in section 7112(a)(1) of the
 Statute because the employees involved do not share a community of
 interest separate and distinct from other Federal employees of the
 Mississippi National Guard.  It contends that only a state-wide unit of
 all nonsupervisory wage grade and general schedule employees would be
 appropriate.  The Activity contends further that the petitioned for unit
 would lead to unwarranted fragmentation and proliferation of units and
 would not promote effective dealings and efficiency of agency
 operations.
 
    The employees sought are civilian technicians working at MATES, which
 is one of 31 maintenance support units in the Mississippi National
 Guard.  They are generally responsible for maintenance and repair of
 equipment used by the Mississippi National Guard as well as by units
 from other states.  All of these support units are under the supervision
 of the State Maintenance Officer who reports to the Adjutant General.
 
    Personnel policies and procedures for MATES employees are formulated
 within the guidelines of the joint Army and Air National Guard
 Regulations, which are enforced and administered by the Adjutant
 General.  All such policies apply to all civilian technicians employed
 by the Mississippi National Guard, and are administered centrally by the
 Support Personnel Management Officer through a state-wide technician
 program under the authority of the Adjutant General.  The MATES
 technicians are subject to a grievance procedure wherein informal
 grievances are resolved within MATES, but the Adjutant General is the
 final authority with respect to formal grievances as well as all
 personnel policies relating to assignment, promotion, leave, separation
 and wages.
 
    MATES technicians are in a separate area of consideration for
 purposes of reductions-in-force.  However, the competitive area for
 vacancies and merit placement for all technicians is state-wide.  The
 record reflects occasional transfers from MATES to other support units
 of the Mississippi National Guard.  Further, although MATES technicians
 possess classification series different from the technicians of other
 support units, they perform general repair and maintenance duties
 similar to technicians in other support units, with the exception of
 those of the Combined Support Maintenance Shop who perform additional
 specialized tasks;  as a result, interchange among the various support
 units occurs on a regular basis.  Moreover, MATES technicians regularly
 work on integrated teams with technicians outside of their unit under
 the same working conditions and common supervision, although it appears
 that the employees from other technicians' units sometimes are in
 military status when serving on such integrated teams.
 
    In view of the foregoing, it is concluded that the employees sought
 herein do not share a clear and identifiable community of interest
 separate and distinct from other Federal civilian employees of the State
 of Mississippi National Guard inasmuch as all such employees share the
 same terms and conditions of employment, and perform similar duties
 under common supervision in the accomplishment of a shared mission.
 Accordingly, the Authority finds that the unit which the Petitioner to
 represent is not appropriate under section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute,
 and the petition shall be dismissed.  See Providence Veterans
 Administration Medical Center, Davis Park, Providence, Rhode Island, 11
 FLRA No. 44 (1983);  Department of the Navy, Navy Publications and
 Printing Office, Vallejo, California, 10 FLRA No. 108 (1982).
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 4-RO-20015 be, and it
 hereby is, dismissed.  Issued, Washington, D.C., August 22, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY