14:0166(34)RO - Air Force, Detachment 4, AFCMD, Air Force Plant Representative Office, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group , West Palm Beach, FL and NFFE Local 2048 and AFGE Local 3846 -- 1984 FLRAdec RP
[ v14 p166 ]
14:0166(34)RO
The decision of the Authority follows:
14 FLRA No. 34
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
DETACHMENT 4, AIR FORCE CONTRACT
MANAGEMENT DIVISION, AIR FORCE PLANT
REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE, PRATT AND
WHITNEY AIRCRAFT GROUP
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
Activity
and
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2048
Petitioner
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 3846, AFL-CIO
Intervenor
Case No. 4-RO-30009
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 Authority has reviewed the hearing
officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from
prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the parties'
contentions, the Authority finds: The Petitioner, National Federation
of Federal Employees, Local 2048 (NFFE), seeks an election in a unit
composed of all professional and nonprofessional employees of the Air
Force Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract
Management Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm Beach,
Florida, excluding management officials, supervisors and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
The foregoing unit of employees is identical to that for which the
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3846, AFL-CIO (AFGE)
was first certified as the exclusive representative by the Regional
Director of Region 4 of the Authority on October 2, 1980. /1/
Intervenor AFGE is in agreement with the Petitioner as to the continuing
appropriateness of the unit.
The Air Force Contract Management Division (AFCMD) contends that the
unit described by the petition is not appropriate for purposes of
exclusive recognition under the Statute. Thus, while AFCMD is in
agreement as to the specific categories of employees to be included and
excluded from the unit, and further admits that the unit sought, which
is composed solely of employees whose duty station is West Palm Beach,
Florida, has in the past been agreed to by AFCMD, it argues that the
current unit description inaccurately sets forth the name of the
"employer" as it misstates the organizational designation of the
Activity as "Air Force Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4." It is
the position of AFCMD that the employees at issue herein are employed by
AFCMD and that the use of the Activity's name as employer is both
inaccurate and unacceptable.
The existing unit consists of some 70 professional and
nonprofessional employees assigned to the Air Force Plant Representative
Office located at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in West Palm Beach,
Florida. This office is one of more than 20 similar plant
representative offices or "Detachments" colocated with civilian
contractor facilities throughout the United States and abroad. AFCMD,
with its headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is charged
with the mission, through its plant representatives, of monitoring and
evaluating the adequacy of Air Force contracts with civilian suppliers
for the procurement and manufacture of military weapons systems.
Individual detachments receive personnel and labor relations services
from one of five different servicing personnel offices, depending upon
the geographic location of the Detachment office. /2/
The on-site Detachment Commander at West Palm Beach, a commissioned
Air Force officer who reports directly to AFCMD Headquarters, exercises
day to day personnel management responsibility over the employees
assigned to his Detachment, and enjoys considerable latitude in matters
affecting the terms and conditions of employment of employees at West
Palm Beach. Thus, the record reveals that each Detachment has one or
two levels of civilian supervision reporting to the Detachment Commander
and that the Commander at West Palm Beach possesses the authority to
discipline and remove employees assigned to his facility, select
candidates to fill vacancies under a merit promotion plan and to adjust
employee grievances. Additionally, the competitive area to be utilized
in the event of a reduction-in-force (RIF) includes only the immediate
West Palm Beach commuting area. While the composition of management
negotiating teams for the conduct of collective bargaining is determined
at the Headquarters level, Detachment personnel are often assigned as
members of such teams and Commanders have on occasion been delegated
independent authority to engage in impact/implementation bargaining with
exclusive representatives at the detachment level. Moreover, the
Detachment Commander possesses independent authority to establish and
adjust employees' hours of work to comport with contractor work
schedules.
While AFCMD asserts that it should be designated as the "employer"
herein on the basis that personnel policies and practices affecting
Detachment employees emanate from and are uniformly applied by AFCMD
Headquarters throughout all its Detachment Offices, and as the locus of
responsibility for the conduct of collective bargaining resides not in
the Detachment Commander but with AFCMD Headquarters, the record
discloses and the Authority notes particularly that AFCMD and its
constituent detachments are not serviced by a single centralized
personnel/labor relations staff, but rather that as many as five
separate personnel offices, through servicing agreements, provide these
services to various AFCMD components. Moreover, AFCMD concedes that it
did not contest the appropriateness of the unit description first
adopted by the Regional Director in 1980 when AFGE was certified as
exclusive representative for the unit in question, and the record does
not disclose that any change in the mission, organization or working
conditions of AFCMD or its Detachment Office at West Palm Beach has
occurred since that date which would serve as a basis for rendering the
currently certified unit inappropriate. Thus, it is concluded, in view
of the facts set forth above, that the petitioned-for unit continues to
ensure a clear and identifiable community of interest among employees
and to promote effective dealings with, and efficiency of the operations
of, the Agency so as to continue to be appropriate for the purpose of
exclusive recognition under section 7112 of the Statute. Accordingly,
the Authority shall direct an election in the following unit:
All professional and nonprofessional employees of the Air Force
Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract
Management Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm
Beach, Florida, excluding management officials, supervisors and
employees described in 5 USC 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
It is noted that this unit includes professional employees. As
prescribed by section 7112(b)(5) of the Statute, the Authority is
prohibited from including professional employees in a unit with
nonprofessional employees unless a majority of the professional
employees vote for inclusion in such a unit. Accordingly, the desire of
the professional employees as to inclusion in a unit with
nonprofessional employees must be ascertained by a self determination
election. The Authority, therefore, directs separate elections in the
following groups:
Voting Group (a): All professional employees of the Air Force
Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract
Management Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm
Beach, Florida, excluding all nonprofessional employees,
management officials, supervisors, and employees described in 5
USC 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
Voting Group (b): All nonprofessional employees of the Air
Force Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force
Contract Management Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group,
West Palm Beach, Florida, excluding all professional employees,
management officials, supervisors, and employees described in 5
USC 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
The employees in the nonprofessional Voting Group (b) will be asked,
on their ballots, whether they desire to be represented by the National
Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2048; by the American Federation
of Government Employees, Local 3846; AFL-CIO; or by neither.
The employees in the professional Voting Group (a) will be asked two
questions on their ballots: (1) whether they wish to be included with
the nonprofessional employees for the purpose of exclusive recognition,
and (2) whether they wish to be represented for the purpose of exclusive
recognition by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2048;
by the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3846,
AFL-CIO; or by neither. In the event that a majority of the valid
votes in Voting Group (a) is cast in favor of inclusion in the same unit
with the nonprofessional employees, the ballots of Voting Group (a)
shall be combined with those of Voting Group (b).
Unless a majority of the valid votes of Voting Group (a) is cast for
inclusion in the unit with nonprofessional employees, they will be taken
to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate unit, and an
appropriate certification will be issued indicating whether or not these
employees desire to be represented for the purpose of exclusive
recognition by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2048;
by the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3846,
AFL-CIO; or by neither.
Thus, the unit determination in this case is based in part upon the
result of the election among the professional employees. However, the
Authority makes the following findings with regard to the appropriate
unit:
1. If a majority of the professional employees vote for inclusion in
a unit with nonprofessional employees, the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of exclusive recognition
within the meaning of section 7112 of the Statute:
All professional and nonprofessional employees of the Air Force
Plant Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract
Management Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm
Beach, Florida, excluding management officials, supervisors and
employees described in 5 USC 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
2. If a majority of the professional employees do not vote for
inclusion in a unit with nonprofessional employees, the following two
groups of employees constitute separate units appropriate for the
purpose of exclusive recognition within the meaning of section 7112 of
the Statute:
(a) All professional employees of the Air Force Plant
Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract Management
Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm Beach,
Florida, excluding all nonprofessional employees, management
officials, supervisors and employees described in 5 USC
7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
(b) All nonprofessional employees of the Air Force Plant
Representative Office, Detachment 4, Air Force Contract Management
Division, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm Beach,
Florida, excluding all professional employees, management
officials, supervisors, and employees described in 5 USC
7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7).
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Elections by secret ballot shall be conducted among employees in the
voting groups described above as soon as feasible. The appropriate
Regional Director shall supervise or conduct the elections, as
appropriate, subject to the Authority's Rules and Regulations. Eligible
to vote are those in the voting group who were employed during the
payroll period immediately preceding the date below, including employees
who did not work during that period because they were out ill, on
vacation or on furlough, including those in the military service, who
appear in person at the polls. Ineligible to vote are employees who
have quit or were discharged for cause since the designated payroll
period and who have not been rehired or reinstated before the election
date. Those eligible to vote within the appropriate unit or units shall
vote whether they desire to be represented for the purpose of exclusive
recognition by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2048;
by the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3846,
AFL-CIO; or by neither.
Issued, Washington, D.C., March 30, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ At the hearing, the petition was amended to conform the unit
description to the current statutory scheme so that employees "engaged
in administering the provisions of this chapter" as described in section
7112(b)(4) of the Statute are excluded from the unit. It is neither
alleged nor here found that such nominal or technical change constitutes
a material alteration in the preexisting unit description.
/2/ While both AFCMD Headquarters and Detachment 4 at West Palm Beach
receive personnel and labor relations services from the central
personnel office of the 1606th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base,
other detachments receive similar support through servicing agreements
with civilian personnel offices located at Los Angeles, California;
McClelland Air Force Base, California; Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia;
and Bitburg, West Germany.