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14:0438(69)NG - AFGE Local 2761 and Army, Army Adjutant General Publication Center, St. Louis, MO -- 1984 FLRAdec NG



[ v14 p438 ]
14:0438(69)NG
The decision of the Authority follows:


 14 FLRA No. 69
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
 AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2761
 Union
 
 and
 
 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY,
 U.S. ARMY ADJUTANT GENERAL
 PUBLICATION CENTER, ST. LOUIS,
 MISSOURI
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-411
 
                DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUES
 
    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) and concerns the
 negotiability of one Union proposal.  /1/ Upon careful consideration of
 the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority
 makes the following determinations.
 
                              Union Proposal
 
          A. The training program will be developed with a committee,
       comprised of three (3) representatives from Management, and three
       (3) from the Union.
 
          B.  The committee will report annually, after a formal review
       of the training provided for the past year.
 
          C. The committee will establish goals which are consistent with
       the projected needs of the Center.
 
          D.  The committee will meet at least quarterly.
 
    In agreement with the Union, the Authority finds this proposal for a
 joint labor-management committee to develop the Agency's training
 program to be a negotiable procedure under section 7106(b)(2) of the
 Statute.  /2/ Insofar as appears from the record, the committee is
 intended to serve as a forum for Union participation in the evaluation
 of training needs and in the formulation of programs to meet those
 needs, but not to negotiate the content of the Agency's training.  /3/
 That is, the proposal would only provide the Union an opportunity to
 express its views regarding the Agency's training programs, rather than
 mandating joint determination of the substantive aspects of those
 programs.  Thus, similar to Union Proposal 2 which the Authority held to
 be negotiable in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
 AFL-CIO, Local 121 and U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
 D.C., 8 FLRA No. 35 (1982) (proposal to negotiate retraining programs
 incident to reductions in force), the present proposal would not require
 the retraining of any employee.  Cf. National Association of Air Traffic
 Specialists and Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation
 Administration, 6 FLRA No. 106 (1981) (Proposals I-III) (proposals
 requiring management to provide training at stated intervals held
 nonnegotiable);  U.S. Government Printing Office, supra, (Proposal 1)
 (proposal requiring management to provide training to unit employees
 held nonnegotiable).  Furthermore, the present proposal would not limit
 or prescribe the duration of training assignments and the scheduling
 thereof, cf. International Association of Fire Fighters, Local F-61 and
 Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 3 FLRA 438, 439 (1980) (proposal specifying
 length of training sessions and limiting time periods for training held
 nonnegotiable);  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. 122 (1982) (proposal limiting training to
 certain time periods held nonnegotiable);  and would not mandate
 specific training assignments to particular employees upon request, cf.
 Federal Aviation Administration, supra.  Rather, Section A of the
 proposal would only obligate the Agency to consider the Union's views in
 planning the training program.
 
    Thus, the Authority concludes from the record that the proposal would
 not interfere with the Agency's discretion concerning whether to assign
 employees to training programs.  The Authority concludes further that
 the proposed committee is a negotiable procedure under section
 7106(b)(2) since it would not prevent the Agency from acting at all to
 assign training in its discretion, pursuant to its right to assign work
 under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute.
 
    Moreover, the Agency's remaining arguments in support of its claim
 that the proposal is outside the duty to bargain do not require a
 different result.  First, for the reasons stated in National Federation
 of Federal Employees, Local 541 and Veterans Administration Hospital,
 Long Beach, California, 12 FLRA No. 62 (1983), the present proposal
 would not, by requiring negotiation regarding Union participation on the
 committee, interfere with management's right to assign work under the
 Statute.  In the cited decision, the Authority rejected this claim with
 respect to a proposal, to the same effect as the one disputed herein,
 which required negotiation regarding union participation on a committee
 to design, develop and administer an incentive awards program.
 
    Second, the Agency contention that the Union's designation of members
 of the committee interferes with its right to assign employees under
 section 7106(a)(2)(A) of the Statute /5/ is inapposite.  As the
 Authority has consistently held, the right to assign employees means to
 assign them to positions in the agency, see, e.g., American Federation
 of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 987 and Air Force Logistics
 Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 5 FLRA No. 15 (1981);
 American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 916 and
 Tinker Air Force Base, Ohio, 7 FLRA No. 45 (1981) (Union Provision III).
  Designation of an employee to serve as a representative on the
 committee, however, would not constitute an assignment to a position
 and, hence, would not concern the right to assign employees under the
 Statute.  /6/
 
    Third, contrary to the Agency's contention that the proposed Union
 representation on the committee interferes with its right to determine
 the personnel by which Agency operations shall be conducted under
 section 7106(a)(2)(B), /7/ the Authority finds that, in this respect,
 the proposal is to the same effect as the proposal in American
 Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 1786 and Marine Corps
 Development and Education Command, Quantico, Virginia, 2 FLRA 423
 (1980), providing for union representation on wage survey teams, which
 was held not to prevent the agency from determining the personnel to
 represent it on those teams.  For the reasons fully discussed in Marine
 Corps Development and Education Command, therefore, the Authority finds
 that the proposal at issue herein does not directly interfere with the
 Agency's rights under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute.
 
    Finally, the Agency's contention that the disputed proposal herein
 concerns the "means" of performing work under section 7106(b)(1), /8/
 about which it may elect but cannot be required to negotiate, cannot be
 sustained, for the reasons stated in Veterans Administration Hospital,
 Long Beach, supra, in which the Authority rejected the same argument in
 connection with a proposal to the same effect.  Under section
 7106(b)(1), a joint labor-management committee which reports annually on
 goals established to meet the Agency's training needs would not
 constitute a "means" of performing the work of the Agency, i.e., its
 publications work.
 
    Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
 Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Union's petition for review be, and
 it hereby is, dismissed as to the "absences" proposal, with respect to
 which the Agency withdrew its allegation of nonnegotiability.  IT IS
 FURTHER ORDERED that the Agency shall upon request (or as otherwise
 agreed to by the parties) bargain concerning the "committee" proposal.
 Issued, Washington, D.C., May 6, 1984
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ In its response to the petition for review, the Agency withdrew
 its allegation that a second proposal concerned with the manner of
 charging absences is nonnegotiable.  Accordingly, there is no longer an
 issue as to whether that proposal is within the duty to bargain.
 
 
    /2/ In deciding that the Union's proposal is within the duty to
 bargain, the Authority, of course, makes no judgment as to its merits.
 
 
    /3/ Union Response at 3.
 
 
    /4/ Section 7106 of the Statute provides, in relevant part, as
 follows:
 
          Sec. 7106.  Management rights
 
          (a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, nothing in this
       chapter shall affect the authority of any management official of
       any agency--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (2) in accordance with applicable laws--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (B) to assign work(.)
 
          (b) Nothing in this section shall preclude any agency and any
       labor organization from negotiating--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (2) procedures which management officials of the agency will
       observe in exercising any authority under this section(.)
 
 
    /5/ Section 7106(a)(2)(A) provides, in relevant part, as follows:
 
          Sec. 7106.  Management rights
 
          (a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, nothing in this
       chapter shall affect the authority of any management official of
       any agency--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (2) in accordance with applicable laws--
 
          (A) to . . . assign . . . employees in the agency(.)
 
 
    /6/ Similarly, the Agency's claim that it could be required to
 reclassify the positions of employees serving as Union representatives
 due to their additional responsibilities on the committee and as a
 consequence to assign them to higher-graded positions, is inapposite.
 The committee-related tasks performed by Union representatives would not
 be a part of such employees' jobs and would not need to be reflected in
 their position descriptions.  See National Federation of Federal
 Employees, Local 541 and Veterans Administration Hospital, Long Beach,
 California, 12 FLRA No. 62 (1983) at 5 of opinion.
 
 
    /7/ Section 7106(a)(2)(B) provides, in relevant part, as follows:
 
          Sec. 7106.  Management rights
 
          (a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, nothing in this
       chapter shall affect the authority of any management official of
       any agency--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (2) in accordance with applicable laws--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (B) . . . to determine the personnel by which agency operations
       shall be conducted(.)
 
 
    /8/ Section 7106(b)(1) provides, in relevant part, as follows:
 
          Sec. 7106.  Management rights
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (b) Nothing in this section shall preclude any agency and any
       labor organization from negotiating--
 
          (1) at the election of the agency . . . on the technology,
       methods, and means of performing work(.)