15:0125(23)RO - Navy, Naval Hospital, Submarine Base Bangor Clinic, Bremerton, WA and IAM District Lodge 160, Local Lodge 282 -- 1984 FLRAdec RP

 15 FLRA No. 23
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
 NAVAL HOSPITAL
 SUBMARINE BASE BANGOR CLINIC
 BREMERTON, WASHINGTON
 Activity
 
 and
 
 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
 MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS,
 AFL-CIO, DISTRICT LODGE 160, LOCAL
 LODGE 282
 Labor Organization/Petitioner
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 48
 Labor Organization/Intervenor
 
                                            Case No. 9-RO-30020
 
                            DECISION AND ORDER
 
    Upon a petition duly filed 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 hearing officer's
 rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
 hereby affirmed.
 
    Upon the entire record in this case, including the contentions of the
 parties, /1/ the Authority finds:  The Petitioner, International
 Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, District Lodge
 160, Local Lodge 282 (IAM), seeks to exclusively represent all
 non-professional general schedule employees at the Naval Regional
 Medical Clinic, Submarine Base Bangor (Subbase Bangor), excluding all
 professional employees, management officials, supervisors and employees
 described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
 The Intervenor, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO,
 Local 48 (AFGE) is the exclusive representative of two units of Activity
 employees:  (1) all professional employees of the Naval Regional Medical
 Center, Bremerton, Washington (now called the Naval Hospital, Bremerton,
 Washington), including employees of the Branch Clinic, Puget Sound Naval
 Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, and employees of the Branch Clinic,
 Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport, Washington,
 excluding non-professional employees, management officials, supervisors,
 employees of the Naval Hospital, Whidbey Island, Washington, employees
 of the Naval Regional Medical Clinic, Seattle, Washington, employees of
 the Branch Hospital, Adak, Alaska, and employees described in section
 7112 (b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute;  and (2) all
 non-professional employees of the Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington,
 including employees of Branch Clinic Puget Sound Naval Shipyard,
 Bremerton, Washington, excluding professional employees, management
 officials, supervisors, employees of the Branch Clinic, Naval Undersea
 Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport, Washington, employees of the Naval
 Hospital, Whidbey Island, Washington, employees of the Naval Regional
 Medical Clinic, Seattle, Washington, employees of the Branch Hospital,
 Adak, Alaska and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4),
 (6) and (7) of the Statute.  The AFGE units are covered by a multi-unit
 negotiated agreement, effective May 25, 1983, for a duration of three
 years.
 
    The Activity argues that the proposed unit of non-professional
 employees is inappropriate because the employees sought accreted to the
 Naval Hospital bargaining unit exclusively represented by AFGE.  It
 contends, in addition, that the petitioned-for unit would fragment the
 existing unit and would not ensure a clear and identifiable community of
 interest nor promote effective dealings and efficiency of agency
 operations, which are requirements for exclusive units under section
 7112(a)(1) of the Statute.  /2/ AFGE contends that it represents the
 employees at the Bangor Clinic through accretion and that such employees
 are covered under the parties' current multi-unit negotiated agreement.
 
    On or about October 1, 1982, the Branch Clinic at Bangor was
 organizationally transferred from the Commander at Subbase Bangor to the
 Commander of the Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington.  /3/ This
 transfer of function was completed in August 1983.  The employees of the
 Branch Clinic at Bangor have not physically moved, are under the same
 immediate supervision and perform the same work as they performed prior
 to the reorganization.  However, substantial organizational and
 operational changes have occurred.  Thus, the officer-in-charge (OIC) of
 the Bangor Clinic now reports to the Commander of the Naval Hospital
 instead of to the Subbase Commander, and the OIC now is considered a
 department head of the Naval Hospital.  Further, the Bangor Clinic
 employees are now covered under the Naval Hospital's personnel policies
 and practices.  They share the same competitive area for
 reductions-in-force and are in the same area of consideration for merit
 promotions as other Naval Hospital employees.  Also, all administrative,
 personnel and labor relations services are centralized at the Naval
 Hospital, and Bangor Clinic employees' personnel files have been
 physically located at the Naval Hospital facility since the
 reorganization.  Bangor Clinic employees have the same position
 classifications as other employees of the Naval Hospital, and have the
 same accreditation requirements;  thus, jobs are interchangeable among
 employees at the hospital and its clinics, and at least one transfer has
 occurred from the hospital to the Bangor Clinic.  Further, the employees
 at the Bangor Clinic have regular contact with employees at the Naval
 Hospital concerning patient care, supplies and training.
 
    Based on the foregoing, the Authority finds that following the
 Activity's reorganization of October 1, 1982, the employees of the
 Bangor Clinic, including the non-professional employees whom IAM here
 seeks to represent in a separate bargaining unit, accreted to the
 respective units of professional and non-professional employees at the
 Naval Hospital exclusively represented by AFGE.  It is clear that Bangor
 Clinic employees are organizationally and functionally integrated into
 the Naval Hospital's structure because, as noted, administrative,
 personnel and labor relations functions are centralized at the Naval
 Hospital level.  Further, the Authority notes that the employees of the
 Bangor Clinic and the employees in the AFGE units share common overall
 working conditions;  have similar position classifications and job
 requirements;  are in the same area of consideration for merit
 promotions;  and are in the same competitive area for
 reductions-in-force.  Therefore, it is concluded that the Bangor Clinic
 employees share a community of interest with employees in the Naval
 Hospital units, and that those units, as clarified, will promote
 effective dealings and efficiency of agency operations.  See U.S.
 International Trade Commission, New York Office, 8 FLRA 283 (1982).  /4/
 
    Having concluded that the employees at the Bangor Clinic accreted
 into the respective professional and non-professional AFGE units, it
 follows that the unit of non-professional employees sought in the
 petition filed by the IA, herein is not appropriate for the purpose of
 exclusive representative inasmuch as these employees do not share a
 community of interest separate and distinct from the other Naval
 Hospital employees exclusively represented by AFGE.  That petition,
 therefore, shall be dismissed.
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS ORDERED that the respective professional and non-professional
 employee units for which the American Federation of Government
 Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 48 holds exclusive recognition at the Naval
 Hospital, Bremerton, Washington, be, and they hereby are, clarified to
 include in such respective units all eligible employees of the Branch
 Clinic, Bangor, Washington, who were organizationally transferred to the
 Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington from the command of the Submarine
 Base Bangor on October 1, 1982.
 
    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 9-RO-30020
 seeking to represent the non-professional employees at the Branch
 Clinic, Bangor, Washington, in a separate unit be, and it hereby is,
 dismissed.
 
    Issued, Washington, D.C., June 14, 1984
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ The opeiu was certified as the exclusive representative on March
 6, 1981, for a unit defined as follows:  all professional and non
 professional employees of the department of energy's oak ridge
 operations and technical information center, excluding employees
 represented by other labor organizations in exclusive units, management
 officials, supervisors and employees described in 5 usc 7112(B)(2), (3),
 (4), (6), and (7).
 
 
    /1/ The brief filed by the American Federation of Government
 Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 48 was untimely filed and therefore was not
 considered by the Authority.
 
 
    /2/ Section 7112(a)(1) provides:
 
          Sec. 7112.  Determination of appropriate units for labor
       organization representation
 
          (a)(1) The Authority shall determine the appropriateness of any
       unit.  The Authority shall determine in each case whether, in
       order to ensure employees the fullest freedom in exercising the
       rights guaranteed under this chapter, the appropriate unit should
       be established on an agency, plant, installation, functional, or
       other basis and shall determine any unit to be an appropriate unit
       only if the determination will ensure a clear and identifiable
       community of interest among the employees in the unit and will
       promote effective dealings with, and efficiency of the operations
       of, the agency involved.
 
 
    /3/ It does not appear that prior to the transfer the employees of
 the Bangor Clinic were exclusively represented by any labor
 organization.
 
 
    /4/ Compare U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office,
 Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 15 FLRA No. 24 (1984), (accretion was denied
 because there was no community of interest between the employees at
 issue and those already in the unit, after a reorganization), and
 Federal Aviation Administration, Aviation Standards National Field
 Office, 15 FLRA No. 14 (1984) (none of the labor organizations involved
 sought to accrete any previously represented employees into their own
 units of exclusive recognition).