12:0635(125)NG - NFFE Local 1363 and Army Garrison, Yongsan, Korea -- 1983 FLRAdec NG

 12 FLRA No. 125
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF
 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1363
 Union
 
 and
 
 UNITED STATES ARMY
 GARRISON, YONGSAN, KOREA
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-480
 
                 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
 to the Authority is the negotiability of the following Union proposal:
 
          Alcoholic beverages will not be dispensed to persons on duty.
 
    Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the
 parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determinations.
 The Union's proposal concerns the dispensation of alcoholic beverages in
 certain membership associations of nonappropriated fund
 instrumentalities (NAFIs).  The effect of the Union's proposal is to
 prohibit the dispensation of alcoholic beverages only to persons on
 duty, as opposed to prohibiting the dispensation of such beverages to
 all employees during duty hours, as provided under an Agency regulation.
  The sole contention of the Agency is that dispensation of alcoholic
 beverages in membership association NAFIs is not a condition of
 employment within the meaning of section 7103(a)(14) of the Statute, and
 therefore is outside the scope of bargaining.
 
    The duty to bargain under the Statute extends only to "conditions of
 employment," i.e., personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting
 working conditions.  /1/ In construing that statutory phrase, the
 Authority has found proposals which concern matters directly affecting
 "the work situation and employment relationship" of bargaining unit
 employees to be within the duty to bargain.  E.g., National Treasury
 Employees Union and Internal Revenue Service, 3 FLRA 693 (1980).  See
 also American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO and Air Force
 Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 2 FLRA 604,
 606 (1980), enforced as to other matters sub nom. Department of Defense
 v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 659 F.2d 1140 (D.C. Cir. 1981),
 cert. denied sub nom. AFGE v. FLRA, 455 U.S. 945, 102 S.Ct. 1443 (1982).
 
    In this case, the Authority concludes that the dispensation of
 alcoholic beverages in membership association NAFIs has no direct
 relationship to the work situation and the employment relationship of
 unit employees.  Nor does the proposal directly relate to an Agency
 policy requiring, as a precondition to the employment relationship, the
 provision of essential facilities and services so as to ensure
 reasonable standards of health and decency for unit employees.  /2/
 Rather, the dispensation of such beverages in membership association
 NAFIs principally relates to activities of employees involved in
 non-work activities while in a non-duty status.  See International
 Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, CLC, Local F-116 and Department
 of the Air Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, 7 FLRA No. 18
 (1981).
 
    Hence, the Authority finds that the disputed proposal regarding the
 dispensation of alcoholic beverages in the NAFIs does not concern
 matters which are "conditions of employment" within the meaning of
 section 7103(a)(14) of the Statute.  Therefore, the Agency is not
 obligated to bargain with respect to the proposal.
 
    Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
 Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the petition for review be, and it
 hereby is, dismissed.  Issued, Washington, D.C., August 25, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ Section 7103(a)(14) of the Statute.
 
 
    /2/ Cf. National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1363 and
 Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison, Yongsan, Korea, 4 FLRA No. 23 (1980)
 (matter of ration control is condition of employment since directly
 related to reasonable standards of health and decency for unit employees
 which the agency required as a precondition to their employment in an
 overseas command).