13:0128(30)CU - Defense Mapping Agency, Hydrographic / Topographic Center, Providence Office, Brookside Avenue, West Warwick, RI, DOD and AFGE Local 1884 -- 1983 FLRAdec RP

 13 FLRA No. 30
 
 DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY
 HYDROGRAPHIC/TOPOGRAPHIC CENTER
 PROVIDENCE OFFICE, BROOKSIDE AVENUE
 WEST WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND,
 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
 Activity/Petitioner
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1884, AFL-CIO
 Labor Organization /1/
 
                                            Case No. 1-CU-20004
 
                    DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING UNIT
 
    Upon a petition duly filed with the Authority under section
 7111(b)(2) 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 careful consideration of the entire record, including the
 parties' contentions, the Authority finds:  The American Federation of
 Government Employees, Local 1884, AFL-CIO (AFGE) was recognized on July
 23, 1962 as the exclusive representative for a unit of all
 nonsupervisory employees of the Defense Mapping Agency,
 Hydrographic/Topographic Center, Providence Field Office.  In its
 petition, the Activity/Petitioner seeks to exclude the incumbents in the
 job classifications of Security Specialist (General), GS-080-11, PN37016
 and Security Assistant, GS-080-07, PN37152 from the recognized unit on
 the ground that they are engaged in national security work or, in the
 alternative, because they are engaged in personnel work in other than a
 purely clerical capacity.  Additionally, the Activity/Petitioner
 contends that the Security Specialist (General) should be excluded
 because he is a supervisor.  /2/
 
    The Activity/Petitioner primarily argues that the two incumbents
 involved herein are engaged in work which directly affects national
 security within the meaning of section 7112(b)(6) of the Statute.  /3/
 The mission of the Activity/Petitioner is to provide topographic,
 hydrographic, navigational and geodetic data, maps, charts, and related
 products and services to the Armed Forces of the United States, the
 Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, and to the Merchant
 Marine and mariners in general.  The employees involved herein are
 attached to the Security Division and are responsible for the
 maintenance of a large vault where top secret material is kept.  While
 all employees are required to have a top secret clearance, the
 incumbents are among the few employees of the Activity/Petitioner who
 have a top secret clearance as well as a "special access clearance"
 which allows them access to the vault.  In this regard, they are
 responsible for:  the unpacking and logging in of top secret materials;
 the packaging and shipment of top secret materials;  the destruction of
 certain top secret materials;  and supplying the technicians of the
 Activity/Petitioner with top secret materials from the vault.  Another
 area of the incumbents' responsibility is in the operation of the
 special communication equipment that is used for transmitting top secret
 information, which includes setting the daily codes to be used in such
 transmission, transmitting the information and destroying the codes
 after they are used.
 
    Based on the above, the Authority finds that the incumbents are
 engaged in security work which directly affects national security within
 the meaning of section 7112(b)(6) of the Statute since, inter alia, they
 control highly classified material which directly affects national
 security.  /4/ Thus, they must be excluded from the recognized unit.
 /5/
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified herein be, and it
 hereby is, clarified by excluding from said unit the incumbents in the
 job classifications of Security Specialist (General), GS-080-11, PN37016
 and the Security Assistant, GS-080-07, PN37152.  Issued, Washington,
 D.C., September 28, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ The names of the Activity/Petitioner and the Labor Organization
 appear as amended at the hearing.
 
 
    /2/ The Activity/Petitioner also sought to exclude the position of
 Security Clerk (Typing), GS-301-05, PN37045 from the unit.  However,
 this position was vacant at the time of the hearing and the Authority
 will not make eligibility determinations regarding vacant positions.
 U.S. Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center, 11 FLRA No. 46
 (1983).
 
 
    /3/ Section 7112(b)(6) provides in pertinent part:
 
          (b) A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate . . .
 
          if it includes--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (6) any employee engaged in intelligence, counterintelligence,
       investigative, or security work which directly affects national
       security(.)
 
 
    /4/ See United States Department of the Navy, U.S. Naval Station,
 Panama, 7 FLRA No. 74 (1981).
 
 
    /5/ In view of this determination, the Authority finds it unnecessary
 to consider the alternative contentions of the Activity/Petitioner.