15:0612(131)NG - AFSCME Local 2910 and The Library of Congress -- 1984 FLRAdec NG

 15 FLRA No. 131
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE,
 COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES,
 AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2910
 Union
 
 and
 
 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. O-NG-721
 
                 DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE
 
    This petition for review comes before the Authority pursuant to
 section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
 Statute (the Statute) and presents an issue concerning the negotiability
 of one Union proposal.
 
    Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the
 parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination.
 The negotiability appeal in this case arose over the Agency's decision
 to lock the entrance door from a roof parking lot used by employees.
 Without this roof access to and from the building, employees are
 required to walk down the parking ramp and enter and exit through the
 front door which is guarded by a uniformed police officer.  The Union
 submitted the following proposal concerning the impact of the decision
 to lock the roof door.
 
                              Union Proposal
 
          Employees will be given keys to the door on the roof of the
       Taylor Street facility;  the roof door shall be accessible by key
       during the hours when employees are at work.
 
    The Agency states that locking the roof door is part of its plan to
 control access to the building for the purpose of, among other things,
 preventing theft of government property.  In agreement with the Agency,
 the Authority concludes that this proposal interferes with the Agency's
 right pursuant to section 7106(a)(1) of the Statute to determine its
 internal security practices.  In this regard, an agency's right to
 determine its internal security practices includes the right to
 determine policies and actions which are part of its plan to secure or
 safeguard its physical property against internal or external risks.  See
 American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 32 and
 Office of Personnel Management, Washington, D.C., 14 FLRA No. 2 (1984)
 (Union Proposal 2).
 
    In this case the Agency has determined that an essential component of
 its plan to secure its physical property is to provide access to the
 building only through a guarded front door.  The Union proposal however,
 by providing employees with duplicate keys to the roof door, effectively
 negates this plan.  Therefore, it directly interferes with the Agency's
 right to determine its internal security practices and is outside the
 duty to bargain.  See American Federation of Government Employees,
 AFL-CIO, Local 15 and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue
 Service, North Atlantic Region, 2 FLRA 875 (1980).
 
    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.
 
    Issued, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1984
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY