14:0263(47)CU - Fire Department Directorate of Engineering and Housing, Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning, GA and AFGE Local 54 -- 1984 FLRAdec RP

 14 FLRA No. 47
 
 FIRE DEPARTMENT DIRECTORATE
 OF ENGINEERING AND HOUSING
 U.S. ARMY INFANTRY CENTER
 FORT BENNING, GEORGIA
 Activity
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 54, AFL-CIO /1/
 Petitioner
 
                                            Case No. 4-CU-30005
 
                    DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING UNIT
 
    Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations 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 54, AFL-CIO (AFGE) was recognized as the
 exclusive bargaining representative for a unit of all nonsupervisory
 employees of the Fire Prevention and Protection Division, Directorate of
 Facilities Engineering.  Essentially, the petition herein seeks to
 clarify the bargaining unit status of seven employees in the job
 classification of Supervisory Firefighter, GS-081-07, who the AFGE
 contends are not supervisors within the meaning of section 7103(a)(10)
 of the Statute and therefore should be included in the bargaining unit.
 /2/
 
    In agreement with the AFGE, the Authority finds that as the above
 employees do not exercise any of the statutory indicia of supervisory
 authority, they are not supervisors within the meaning of section
 7103(a)(10) of the Statute.  In so finding, the Authority notes that the
 record fails to establish that these Supervisory Firefighters hire,
 promote or reward subordinates, or effectively recommend such actions;
 nor do they handle grievances or disciplinary actions.  Rather, they are
 responsible for the routine operation of the fire station to which they
 are assigned which involves carrying out the work and training schedules
 established by the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief.  The Supervisory
 Firefighters, after taking roll each day, work side by side with the
 other firefighters in the performance of the required daily tasks.  The
 Assistant Fire Chief is responsible for directing firefighting
 activities.  Only on rare occasions when he does not reach the fire
 first will a Supervisory Firefighter direct firefighting activities, and
 then only until the Assistant Fire Chief arrives.  As a result of the
 above, the Authority concludes that the authority that they exercise in
 the assignment of regular duties at the fire station is routine in
 nature and does not require the consistent exercise of independent
 judgment.  Department of the Army, U.S. Armor Center, Fort Knox,
 Tennessee, 4 FLRA 116, 119-120 (1980).  Accordingly, the Authority a
 shall order that the employees in the job classification of Supervisory
 Firefighter, GS-081-07 should be included in the recognized bargaining
 unit.
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified herein be, and it
 hereby is, clarified by including in said unit the employees in the job
 classification of Supervisory Firefighter, GS-081-07.  Issued,
 Washington, D.C., April 20, 1984.
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ The names of the parties appear as amended at the hearing.
 
 
    /2/ Section 7103(a)(10) of the Statute defines a "supervisor" as:
 
          . . . an individual employed by an agency having authority in
       the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote,
       reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline,
       or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively
       recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not
       merely routine or clerical in nature but requires the consistent
       exercise of independent judgment, except that, with respect to any
       unit which includes firefighters or nurses, the term 'supervisor'
       includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of
       their employment time to exercising such authority(.)