17:0550(81)NG - AFGE Local 12 and Labor -- 1985 FLRAdec NG

 17 FLRA No. 81
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF 
 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, 
 LOCAL 12, AFL-CIO
 Union 
 
 and 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
 Agency
 
                                            Case No. 0-NG-940
 
                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 raises issues
 concerning the negotiability of the following two Union proposals.
 
                             Union Proposal 1
 
          EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
 
          (T)he Union . . . proposes a joint committee be formed to meet
       separate from the Mid Term Bargaining forum to discuss the Union's
       objections to the proposed Employee Handbook with the goal of
       accepting the new handbook if the Union's concerns are
       satisfactorily addressed.
 
                             Union Proposal 2
 
          UPWARD MOBILITY AND TRAINING
 
          Change point 6 on page 6 to read as follows:
 
          Panels will use individual oral interviews as part of the Merit
       Staffing evaluation process in order to make a final determination
       on the employees to be certified.
 
    Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the
 parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determinations.
 
    Based on the record in this case it appears that the Union submitted
 these proposals to the Agency pursuant to the parties' agreement in
 response to the Agency's issuance of a revised "Employee Handbook" and
 the "reissuance" of the Upward Mobility Training Agreement.  When the
 Agency refused to negotiate on the proposals, the Union requested an
 allegation of nonnegotiability and the Agency replied that it had no
 duty to bargain on the matters proposed.  The Agency's position is that
 these matters are not properly before the Authority because the
 Department of Labor has made no material change affecting conditions of
 employment and no duty to bargain exists with regard to these proposals
 under such circumstances.  The Agency did not assert that the two
 proposals were nonnegotiable, but, rather, that there is no duty on the
 Agency's part to bargain over these proposals.  The Union thereupon
 filed the instant appeal with the Authority seeking a negotiability
 determination.
 
    The Agency has not alleged or demonstrated in the record herein that
 these proposals are inconsistent with law or regulation, and since no
 basis for finding the proposals nonnegotiable is otherwise apparent, the
 Authority finds that Union Proposals 1 and 2 are within the Agency's
 duty to bargain under the Statute.  It is well established that the
 parties bear the burden for creating a record upon which the Authority
 can make its decision.  See National Federation of Federal Employees,
 Local 1167 v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 681 F.2d 886, 891 (D.C.
 Cir. 1982), aff'g National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1167
 and Department of the Air Force, Headquarters, 31st Combat Support Group
 (TAC), Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, 6 FLRA 574 (1981). See also
 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 2477
 and Library of Congress, 14 FLRA 59 (1984).
 
    Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
 Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Agency shall upon request (or as
 otherwise agreed to by the parties) bargain concerning the disputed
 proposals.  /1/ Issued, Washington, D.C., April 15, 1985
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
                                       Chairman
                                       William J. McGinnis, Jr., Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ The Authority decides herein only the negotiability of Union
 Proposals 1 and 2 under the Statute.  To the extent that there are
 factual issues in dispute between the parties regarding the duty to
 bargain in the specific circumstances of this case, these issues may be
 raised and litigated in an unfair labor practice proceeding.  American
 Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2736 and Department
 of the Air Force, Headquarters, 379th Combat Support Group (SAC),
 Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan, 14 FLRA 302 (1984).