14:0153(29)RO - Fish and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, CO and NFFE Local 2053 and AFGE -- 1984 FLRAdec RP
[ v14 p153 ]
14:0153(29)RO
The decision of the Authority follows:
14 FLRA No. 29
U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
FINANCE CENTER, DENVER, COLORADO
Activity
and
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2053
Petitioner
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
Intervenor
Case No. 7-RO-30003
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority
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 parties'
contentions, the Authority finds: The Petitioner, National Federation
of Federal Employees, Local 2053 (NFFE), seeks to represent all
professional and non-professional employees of the Activity, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado (the Finance
Center), excluding all management officials, supervisors, and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
The Activity contends that the petitioned-for unit is not appropriate
under the criteria set forth in section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute /1/
because the employees involved do not share a community of interest
separate and distinct from other employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and that the petitioned-for unit, standing alone, would result
in a fragmentation of units and would not promote effective dealings or
efficiency of agency operations. The Activity asserts that, at a
minimum, an appropriate unit would consist of some 200 employees of the
Office of the Assistant Director of Administration, Washington, D.C.,
which includes the Denver Finance Center, and that the "preferred"
appropriate unit should encompass the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
national headquarters office consisting of some 1,100 to 1,200
employees. NFFE and the Intervenor, American Federation of Government
Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), take the position that only the
petitioned-for unit is appropriate in that its employees have a separate
and distinct community of interest from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service employees in Washington. The Petitioner indicates that it is
not interested in an election for any alternative units. There are no
bars to an election in the instant case nor any previous collective
bargaining history for the employees sought.
The Finance Center located in Denver, Colorado, is one of six
divisions in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of the
Assistant Director for Administration, all of which report to the
Assistant Director. The other five divisions, all located in
Washington, D.C., are the Division of Contracting and General Services,
Division of Finance, Office of Information Resources Management,
Division of Personnel, and Office of Safety and Security. The Finance
Center is responsible for implementing financial policies and
procedures, processing all financial documents and transactions, and
preparing and maintaining official accounting records and reports to
managers throughout the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by
the Program and Financial Management Information System (PFMIS). It
operates and maintains the automated systems required to support the
finance operations and the PFMIS, including systems analysis and design
support necessary to maintain the automatic data processing systems,
identification and implementation of needed changes to the financial
processing and accounting subsystems, and incorporation of approved
changes to the PFMIS. It is also responsible for updating the Service's
Management Systems Handbook, a comprehensive technical guide to all
aspects of the Service's PFMIS. The Finance Center's mission is
separate and distinct from other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
components in that it is a centralized financial and informational
organization for the entire Service with agency level responsibility.
The record establishes that the Denver Finance Office shares no
duties or functions in common with four of the five divisions within the
Office of the Assistant Director in Washington. As to the fifth, i.e.,
the Division of Finance, while there are some similarities there also
are significant differences. Prior to May 1982, the Denver Finance
Center was one of two branches in the Service's Division of Finance
which was located in Washington. Thereafter, the Finance Center which
was elevated to the level of a division reporting directly to the
Assistant Director of Administration. Now, while the Denver Finance
Center's mission involves the implementing of internal financial
policies and procedures and the processing of financial documents within
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Division of Finance located in
Washington, D.C. has a different mission in that it is responsible for
interpreting external policy issues as they apply to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and developing policies in the financial areas of
accounting, fund control, travel, cash management, debt collection, cost
recoverable activities, and imprest fund administration. In view of the
foregoing, the Authority concludes that the employees sought share
common mission and job categories even to a limited extent with only one
of the five other divisions of the Office of the Assistant Director for
Administration, and share no common duties or mission with the others.
By contrast, the Finance Center in Denver is geographically separated
from all of the other Service components (located in Washington, D.C.);
has a separate and distinct mission; its employees are within a
separate competitive area for reduction-in-force; and its employees do
not transfer or interchange with other Service components in Washington.
Moreover, although the Finance Center is covered by overall Agency
personnel policies, it receives most personnel services from the Region
6 personnel office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located in
Denver. Additionally, while Finance Center employees have some of the
same job classifications as employees in other components of the Service
and are generally covered by the same area of consideration for
promotions, they do not share common immediate or secondary supervision.
Under these circumstances, the Authority concludes that the employees
in the petitioned-for unit share a clear and identifiable community of
interest separate and distinct from other employees of the Activity, and
that the petitioned-for unit will promote effective dealings and
efficiency of agency operations. Thus, the unit sought encompasses all
employees within a separate and distinct centralized financial and
informational organization which has agency-level nationwide
responsibility. Accordingly, the Authority finds the following unit to
be appropriate for the purpose of exclusive recognition within the
meaning of the Statute:
All professional and non-professional employees of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver Colorado,
excluding all management officials, supervisors, and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
It is noted that this unit includes professional employees. As
prescribed by section 7112(b)(5) of the Statute, the Authority is
prohibited from including professional employees in a unit with
non-professional employees unless a majority of the professional
employees vote for inclusion in such a unit. Accordingly, the desire of
the professional employees as to inclusion in a unit with
non-professional employees must be ascertained by a self-determination
election. The Authority, therefore, directs separate elections in the
following groups:
Voting Group (a): All professional employees of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado, excluding
non-professional employees, all management officials, supervisors,
and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and
(7) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
Voting Group (b): All non-professional employees of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado,
excluding professional employees, all management officials,
supervisors, and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3),
(4), (6) and (7) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations
Statute.
The employees in the non-professional Voting Group (b) will be polled
as to whether they desire to be represented by the National Federation
of Federal Employees, Local 2053; by the American Federation of
Government Employees, AFL-CIO; or by neither.
The employees in the professional Voting Group (a) will be asked two
questions on their ballots: (1) whether they wish to be included with
the non-professional employees for the purpose of exclusive recognition,
and (2) whether they wish to be represented for the purpose of exclusive
recognition by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2053;
by the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; or by
neither. In the event that a majority of the valid votes in Voting
Group (a) is cast in favor of inclusion in the same unit with the
non-professional employees, the ballots of Voting Group (a) shall be
combined with those of Voting Group (b).
Unless a majority of the valid votes of Voting Group (a) is cast for
inclusion in the unit with non-professional employees, they will be
taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate unit, and
an appropriate certification will be issued indicating whether these
employees desire to be represented for the purpose of exclusive
recognition by the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2053;
by the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; or by
neither.
Thus, the unit determination in this case is based in part upon the
result of the election among the professional employees. However, the
Authority makes the following findings with regard to the appropriate
unit:
1. If a majority of the professional employees vote for inclusion in
the unit with non-professional employees, the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of exclusive recognition
within the meaning of section 7112 of the Statute:
All professional and non-professional employees of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado,
excluding all management officials, supervisors, and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the
Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
2. If a majority of the professional employees do not vote for
inclusion in a unit with non-professional employees, the following two
groups of employees constitute separate units appropriate for the
purpose of exclusive recognition within the meaning of section 7112 of
the Statute:
(a) All professional employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado, excluding
non-professional employees, all management officials, supervisors,
and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and
(7) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
(b) All non-professional employees of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Finance Center, Denver, Colorado, excluding
professional employees, all management officials, supervisors, and
employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7)
of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Elections by secret ballot shall be conducted among employees in the
voting groups described above as soon as feasible. The appropriate
Regional Director shall supervise or conduct the elections, as
appropriate, subject to the Authority's Rules and Regulations. Eligible
to vote are those in the voting groups who were employed during the
payroll period immediately preceding the date below, including employees
who did not work during that period because they were out ill, on
vacation or on furlough, including those in the military service who
appear in person at the polls. Ineligible to vote are employees who
have quit or were discharged for cause since the designated payroll
period and who have not been rehired or reinstated before the election
date. Those eligible shall vote on whether they desire to be
represented for the purpose of exclusive recognition by the National
Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2053; by the American Federation
of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; or by neither.
Issued, Washington, D.C., March 26, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ 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.