American Federation of Government Employees, Local 446 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Asheville (Authority decision, January 28, 1993)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority in a negotiability proceeding. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review by filing a petition in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a). Filing a petition does not stay the Authority's order unless the court orders a stay under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(c).

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 446 asked the Authority to review a bargaining proposal involving the Asheville VA medical center. The VA did not claim the proposal conflicted with a law, rule, or regulation. It argued only that the proposal violated the parties' master labor agreement. The Authority held that such an agreement dispute did not meet the conditions for a negotiability appeal and dismissed the petition without prejudice. The union may file another appeal if the conditions for review are later met; the Authority did not decide the proposal's merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Negotiability review under 5 U.S.C. § 7117 and 5 C.F.R. § 2424.1.
• Outcome: Union's petition dismissed without prejudice.
• Key point: A dispute based only on a master agreement, without an asserted conflict with law, rule, or regulation, did not qualify for this negotiability review.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v46 p1275 ]
46:1275(118)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

46 FLRA No. 118

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES

LOCAL 446

(Agency)

and

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

MEDICAL CENTER

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

(Agency)

0-NG-2096

ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR REVIEW

January 28, 1993

The Union has filed a petition for review of negotiability issues in the above-captioned case. The Agency has filed a statement of position on the Union's petition. For the reasons set out below, the Union's petition for review does not meet the conditions governing review of negotiability issues and must be dismissed.

Under section 7117 of the Federal Labor Management Relations Statute (Statute) and section 2424.1 of the Authority's Regulations, the Authority will consider a petition for review of a negotiability issue only where the parties are in dispute over whether a proposal is inconsistent with law, rule, or regulation. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 12, AFL-CIO, and Department of Labor, 26 FLRA 768, 769 (1987).

In this case, the Agency does not claim that the proposal is inconsistent with law, rule, or regulation. Rather, the Agency contends only that the proposal is nonnegotiable because it violated Article 24, Section 2 of the parties' Master Agreement of l982. Under these circumstances, the Union's petition for review does not meet the conditions governing review of negotiability issues. See Overseas Education Association and U.S. Department of Defense,

Dependents Schools, FPO, Seattle, 42 FLRA 197, 200 (1991) and National Association of Government Employees, Local R1-109 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, Newington, Connecticut, 38 FLRA 928, 931 (1990).

Accordingly, we will dismiss the Union's petition for review, without prejudice to the Union's right to file a negotiability appeal if the conditions governing review of negotiability issues are met and if the Union chooses to file such an appeal. See American Federation of Government Employees, Local 85 and Veterans Administration Medical Center, Leavenworth, Kansas, 30 FLRA 400, 401-02 (1987).

For the Authority.

____
Alicia N. Columna
Director, Case Control
Office

FOOTNOTES:
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have footnotes.)