19:0381(50)NG - NAGE Local R14-87 and Army and Air Force, Kansas Army NG -- 1985 FLRAdec NG
[ v19 p381 ]
19:0381(50)NG
The decision of the Authority follows:
19 FLRA No. 50
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL R14-87
Union
and
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AND
THE AIR FORCE, KANSAS ARMY
NATIONAL GUARD
Case No. O-NG-936
DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE
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 presents an issue
relating to the negotiability of one Union proposal. Upon careful
consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions,
the Authority makes the following determination.
Union Proposal
Change Section 1.a to read:
a. At the USP & FD, MATES, AASG and the CSMS, a joint Safety
Committee will be formed. Fifty (50) percent of the total
membership of said committee will be appointed by the union.
Chairman of the committee will alternate between union and
management, at alternating meetings. The committee will meet
quarterly unless required sooner because of a specific problem
area. During such meetings, safety inspections and evaluation of
work areas will be accomplished and reported hazards will be
inspected, the committee will develop a checklist to be utilized
for inspections and evaluations. The checklist will be updated at
least annually. It is further recognized that each employee has a
primary responsibility for his own safety and an obligation to
himself and others. In the event that a specific hazard is
encountered, or a specific condition is considered unsafe, an
employee shall immediately notify his first level supervisor. The
first level supervisor will either initiate corrective action
on-the-spot or immediately notify the Installation Safety Officer.
If the Safety Officer is unable to correct the problem, he will
notify the Safety Committee and an immediate inspection and
evaluation will be made. The Safety Committee will make their
recommendation to the facility supervisor. The Facility
Supervisor will evaluate the problem and the recommendations from
the safety committee, and take appropriate action. Documentation
of the final decision and/or action by management, as a result of
the safety committee recommendations will be furnished to the
union within thirty (30) days. In the event that additional time
is required, time limits of this section may be waived by mutual
agreement of parties.
(Only the underlined portion of the proposal is in dispute.)
The record indicates that the Agency by regulation has established
Safety and Occupational Health Councils which are chaired by
installation commanders. /1/ In accordance with the regulation under
which they are established, the primary function of the councils is to
serve as a vehicle for communication between management and unions
through which recommendations are made to the installation commanders.
The regulation requires union representation and participation on such
councils. The proposal at issue herein would extend the level of Union
participation to include the chairmanship of the council at alternating
meetings.
The Agency contends that by requiring that a Union representative
assume the responsibilities of the council chairman at alternating
meetings the proposal directly interferes with management's right to
assign work under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute. /2/ The
Authority agrees. In this regard, the Authority has consistently held
that proposals requiring the assignment of specific duties to particular
individuals, including management officials, are nonnegotiable under
section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute. See, e.g., National Treasury
Employees Union and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue
Service, 7 FLRA 235, 240 (1981); National Association of Government
Employees, Local R14-89 and Headquarters, U.S. Army Air Defense Center
and Fort Bliss, Texas, 9 FLRA 1033, 1035 (1982); International
Organization of Master, Mates and Pilots and Panama Canal Commission, 11
FLRA 115, 120 (1983); American Federation of Government Employees,
AFL-CIO, Local 32 and Office of Personnel Management, 14 FLRA 278
(1984), aff'd mem. sub nom. Local 32, American Federation of Government
Employees v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, No. 84-1251 (D.C. Cir.
May 10, 1985). Moreover, agency management may exercise its right under
the Statute to make such assignments by means of an internal agency
regulation. See, e.g., American Federation of Government Employees,
AFL-CIO, Local 1603 and Navy Exchange, Naval Air Station, Patuxent
River, Maryland, 9 FLRA 1039, 1040 (1982); American Federation of
Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 3488 and Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, New York Region, 17 FLRA No. 78 (1985) at note 3.
Conversely, proposals which preclude management from assigning specific
tasks to particular individuals, including management officials, are
similarly nonnegotiable under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute.
See, e.g., Association of Civilian Technicians and State of Georgia
National Guard, 2 FLRA 581, 582-83 (1980); Laborers' International
Union of North America, AFL-CIO-CLC, Local 1267 and Defense Logistics
Agency, Defense Depot Tracy, Tracy, California, 14 FLRA 686, 691-92
(1984); National Association of Air Traffic Specialists and Department
of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 6 FLRA 588, 595-96
(1981); International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and
Panama Canal Commission, 13 FLRA 508, 526 (1983).
As indicated above, the Agency has, by internal regulation, assigned
the task of chairmanship of its health and safety committees to
designated management officials. In that context, the effect of the
Union's proposal, on the one hand, is to preclude management from making
such an assignment at alternate meetings. On the other hand, the
proposal also has the effect of requiring management to assign the
responsibilities of chairmanship to a Union representative for those
meetings at which a management official is not scheduled to be chairman.
In the former instance, the proposal has the same effect as the
proposals in the Federal Aviation Administration and Panama Canal
Commission cases cited above, which precluded management from assigning
work to supervisors and management officials and which the Authority
held nonnegotiable under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute. In the
latter instance, the proposal has the same effect as the proposals in
the Air Defense Center and Office of Personnel Management cases, which
required the assignment of specific tasks to particular individuals and
which the Authority held nonnegotiable under section 7106(a)(2)(B).
Thus, for the reasons set forth in the Federal Aviation Administration,
Panama Canal Commission, Air Defense Center, and Office of Personnel
Management decisions, the Union's proposal at issue herein directly
interferes with management's right to assign work under section
7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute and is outside the Agency's duty to
bargain.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the petition for review as to the
Union's proposal be, and it hereby is, dismissed. Issued, Washington,
D.C., July 26, 1985
Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
Chairman
William J. McGinnis, Jr., Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 6055.1, Paragraph 7.a.(2)
provides, in relevant part, as follows:
7. Councils and Conferences
a. DoD Safety and Occupational Health Councils
. . . . .
(2) At the installation level, DoD Components shall operate
local safety and occupational health councils to foster mutual
cooperation and open channels of communication, make
recommendations to the installation commander, and perform such
additional tasks as the commander or the council chairman may
direct. Although these councils are established under this
Instruction primarily to address on-the-job personnel safety and
health matters, the scope of their considerations may and should
be expanded, as their title suggests, to include other safety
concerns of the command.
(a) Such councils shall be chaired by the installation
commander or the commander's designee, who shall be a senior line
management official.
(b) Membership shall include representatives of appropriate
functional areas such as line and staff supervision, safety,
occupational health, fire prevention, traffic control, and
facility engineering.
(c) Membership shall include representatives of recognized
employee organizations where they exist.
/2/ Section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute provides 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, to make determinations with respect to
contracting out, and to determine the personnel by which agency
operations shall be conducted(.)