Headquarters, U.S. Army Material Development and Readiness Command and National Federation of Federal Employees (Authority decision, January 16, 1984)

Final FLRA representation decision. The Authority dismissed a petition to consolidate bargaining units. This appropriate-unit determination is excluded from the 60-day judicial-review provision by 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(2).

Plain-English summary

The National Federation of Federal Employees asked the Authority to consolidate 29 bargaining units at the Army Material Development and Readiness Command. The proposed unit covered about 21,300 employees at 17 installations with different missions, jobs, and working conditions. The Authority found no clear and identifiable community of interest because labor relations and personnel authority were largely local and the employees' work varied widely. It dismissed the consolidation petition without reaching the other appropriate-unit criteria. The outcome is classified as other because this was an original petition decided after a hearing, with no Regional Director decision under review.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Consolidation and appropriate-unit criteria under 5 U.S.C. § 7112(a)(1) and (d).
• Outcome: Petition to consolidate 29 bargaining units dismissed on the merits.
• Key point: Common representation alone did not establish a shared community of interest across the installations.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v13 p679 ]

13:0679(110)UC

The decision of the Authority follows:

13 FLRA No. 110

HEADQUARTERS, U.S. ARMY MATERIAL
DEVELOPMENT AND READINESS COMMAND
Activity

and

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES
Petitioner

Case No. 3-UC-20003

DECISION AND ORDER

Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority under section 7112(d) of the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the Authority. The Authority has reviewed the hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. The rulings are hereby affirmed.

Upon the entire record in this case, the Authority finds: The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) filed the instant petition seeking to consolidate 29 units within the U.S. Army Material Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM) for which it is the exclusive representation. /1/ DARCOM contends that the proposed consolidation, which would affect 21,300 employees (19.4% of its total workforce) at 17 of its 65 installations, is not appropriate because it does not meet the appropriate unit criteria set forth in section 7112(a) of the Statute.
/2/ Specifically, DARCOM contends that the mission and function of the 17 DARCOM installations involved are significantly different and that, particularly as the employees' duties and job skills differ from office to office, there is no clear and identifiable community of interest among the employees sought to be consolidated. Further, DARCOM contends that the proposed consolidated unit does not constitute a distinct grouping of employees sharing a clear and identifiable community of interest. Further, DARCOM contends that the proposed consolidation would not promote either effective dealings or efficiency of the agency's operations, inasmuch as its organization is decentralized, with authority vested in local installation commanders to establish and administer civilian personnel policy, including negotiation and approval of collective bargaining agreements, and consolidation would both increase the cost of collective bargaining and adversely affect long-standing local bargaining relationships.

NFFE contends that the proposed consolidation units satisfies the requisite criteria for consolidation under section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute, i.e., the employees sought to be included in the proposed unit share a clear and identifiable community of interest, and consolidation would promote effective dealings with the agency, and would promote the efficiency of DARCOM operations by creating a more comprehensive bargaining unit.

DARCOM consists of a nationwide network of 65 military installations and 101 subinstallations and separate units. It has 13 major subordinate commands: 2 material readiness commands, 4 research and development commands, 4 combined material readiness and research and development commands, a depot systems command (headquarters of 17 Army depots), a test and evaluation command, and a security assistance command. There are 46 separate staff activities reporting to Headquarters, DARCOM and 54 project/product managers with authority over specific types of weapons systems equipment or ammunition. DARCOM is responsible for the life cycle material functions, including research and development, test and evaluation, procurement and production, storage and distribution, inventory management, maintenance and disposal.

The proposed consolidated unit would consist of employees working at two depot activities, three ammunition plant activities, four major subordinate command headquarters, and four testing activities (three of which are guard units).

The missions of the affected installations are not the same. For example, Letterkenny Army Depot at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania operates supply depots and provides for the receipt, storage, issue, maintenance and disposal of a broad range of supplies and munitions; Kansas Army Ammunition Plant, Parsons, Kansas loads, assembles and packs ammunition and manufactures lead azide; Headquarters, Troop Support and Aviation Material Readiness Command (TSARCOM), St. Louis, Missouri plans and conducts integrated logistics, material readiness management, and maintenance support functions for all assigned material/systems; and Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona tests and evaluates a variety of equipment in a desert environment.

The record reveals that DARCOM is decentralized, with authority vested in local installation commanders to establish and administer civilian personnel policy and labor-management relations policy, and to negotiate and approve collective bargaining agreements. Although Headquarters, DARCOM conducts a post-signing review of installation agreements, it neither participates in the local negotiations process nor controls the negotiations. Each installation negotiates its own local agreement, deals with the union on a day-to-day basis, resolves grievances, and generally conducts labor-management relations.

NFFE represents employees at 8 of DARCOM's 13 major subordinate commands, 17 of the 65 DARCOM installations, 2 of the 17 depots and depot activities, 3 of the 13 activities and 25 ammunition plants known as Armaments Command, and 4 of the 11 testing activities. NFFE exclusively represents approximately 21,300 (19.4%) employees of DARCOM's total workforce of 109,500, and represents all of the employees at 7 of the 17 installations included in the petition.

In Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C., 5 FLRA 646(1981), the Authority dismissed petitions to consolidate units noting that section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute requires any unit found appropriate to conform to the three criteria established by that section -- a clear and identifiable community of interest among the employees in the unit, the promotion of effective dealings with, and the efficiency of the operations of, the agency involved. The Authority further noted that section 7112(d) of the Statute, /3/ which provides for the consolidation of existing units into a single more comprehensive unit, requires that such consolidated unit meet the same three criteria required of any proposed unit.

In other decisions issued since the Department of Transportation case, the Authority, in making its determinations on the appropriateness of such proposed consolidated units, has considered several factors. Primary among these factors, in determining whether there was a community of interest, were: the degree of commonality and integration of the mission and function of the components involved; the distribution of the employees involved throughout the organizational and geographical components of the agency; the degree of similarity in the occupational undertakings of the employees in the proposed unit; and the locus and scope of personnel and labor relations authority and functions. /4/

The Authority finds that the employees in the proposed consolidated unit herein to no share a clear and identifiable community of interest. The record reveals that the proposed unit would be limited to employees at only 2 of the 17 depots and depot activities, 3 of the 14 activities and 25 ammunition plants in the Armaments Command, 4 of the 11 testing activities, and only 5 of the 46 field activities which report directly to Headquarters, DARCOM. Of the 17 DARCOM installation included in the petition, NFFE represents all employees at only 7 locations; the other 48 installations are not included at all. Most of the employees in the proposed consolidated unit, representing 19.4% of the DARCOM civilian workforce, have different career interests and working conditions because of the uniqueness of each mission. Further, there seems to be a minimal amount of interchange of employees from the NFFE unit to another. The job classifications and the terms and conditions of employment at each location appear to relate to specific and unique local functions. Moreover, personnel authority and control of labor relations historically have been delegated to each local installation. Given these facts, the Authority finds that the petitioned-for consolidated unit would not ensure a clear and identifiable community of interest among the employees involved.

Accordingly, the Authority finds that the proposed consolidated unit is not appropriate, and will order that the petition be dismissed. /5/

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 3-UC-2003 be, and it hereby is dismissed.

Issued, Washington, D.C., January 16, 1984

Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

APPENDIX

Unit No. 1
Included: All employees of the
Telecommunications Terminal, U.S.
Army Communications Agency
Presidio and all employees of the
Logistic Control Office, Presidio
of San Francisco.
Excluded: Management officials,
employees engaged in Federal
Personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity,
professional
employees and guards and
supervisors as defined in the
Order, as amended.

Unit No. 2
Included: All general Schedule
(GS) employees, including
temporary employees with
appointments of more than 180
days, employed at Headquarters,
United States Army Armament
Material Readiness Command, Rock
Island, Illinois.
Excluded: All management
officials,
professional employees, employees
engaged in Federal Personnel Work
in
other than a purely clerical
capacity, temporary employees with
appointments of less than 180 days
based upon a specific event
non-recurring, and supervisors and
guards as defined in Executive
Order
11491, as amended.

Unit No. 3
Included: All professional and
non-professional employees at the
U.S. Army Industrial Base
Engineering Activity, Rock
Island, Illinois.
Excluded: Management officials;
supervisors; and employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7).

Unit No. 4
Included: All non-supervisory
guards in the civilian guard
unit, Provost Marshal Division,
U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground,
Arizona.
Excluded: Supervisors, management
officials, confidential
employees, employees engaged in
personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity.

Unit No. 5
Included: All non-supervisory,
Wage Grade, employees of the
United States Army Test and
Evaluation Command; the United
States Army Communications
Command - White Sands; and the
U.S. Army Troop Support Agency,
U.S. Army Commissary - White
Sands, employed at White Sands
Missile Range, New Mexico.
Excluded: All General Schedule
employees; all professional
employees; management officials;
supervisors; and employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)%2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7).

Unit No. 6
Included: All security guard
employees of Department of
Defense Guard Division, Security
Office, White Sands Missile
Range, New Mexico.
Excluded: All professional
employees, management officials;
supervisors; and employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7).

Unit No. 7
Included: All General Schedule
employees of the Fire Prevention
and Protection Division of
Facilities Engineering
Directorate,
White Sands Missile Range, New
Mexico.
Excluded: All professional
employees; management officials;
supervisors; and employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7).

Unit No. 8
Included: All non-supervisory
personnel classified as guards,
employed by the Civilian Security
Police Section, Physical Security
Branch, Provost Marshal Division,
Security Office, Aberdeen Proving
Ground Command, Aberdeen
Proving Ground, Maryland.
Excluded: Employees employed in
Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity,
management officials, and
supervisors
as defined in the Order.

Unit No. 9
Included: All full-time GS, WG
and WL employees of the U.S. Army
Armament, Research and Development
Command (ARRADCOM), Chemical
System
Laboratory (CSL), the ARRADCOM
Support Group for the CSL, and the
U.S. Army Material Readiness
Command
(ARRCOM) at Aberdeen Proving
Ground,
Maryland. /6/
Excluded: All supervisors,
management
officials, professionals,
guards, employees engaged in
personnel
work in other than a purely
clerical
capacity and employees of tenant
activities.

Unit No. 10
Included: All professional
employees of CSL, ARRCOM,
ARRADCOM and USAMRICD at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground,
Edgewood, Maryland.
Excluded: All non-professional
employees; management officials;
supervisors; and employees in 5
U.S.C. 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6)
and (7).

Unit No. 11
Included: All professional and
non-professional General Schedule
and Wage Grade employees of
Headquarters, U.S. Army Troop
Support
and Aviation Material Readiness
Command (TSARCOM), including
employees of the Field Service
Activity (FSA) and Administrative
and Installation Support Activity
(AISA), with duty stations in the
greater St. Louis area; all
third-year Department of the Army
centralized interns -- also known
as
DARCOM interns -- assigned to
Headquarters, U.S. Army Troop
Support
and Aviation Material Readiness
Command, (TSARCOM), with duty
stations in the greater St. Louis
area. /7/
Excluded: All supervisors,
management officials, employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7) and
employees of the St. Louis Area
Support Center, U.S. Army Support
Activity, and U.S. Army General
Materiel and Petroleum Activity.

Unit No. 12
Included: All non-professional
employees of AVRADCOM elements
located at Fort Monmouth, New
Jersey including full-time
temporary employees.
Excluded: All professional
employees, management officials,
confidential employees, employees
engaged in personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity
and supervisors as defined in
Executive Order 11491, as amended.

Unit No. 13
Included: All professional
employees of AVRADCOM elements
located at Fort Monmouth, New
Jersey, including full-time
temporary employees.
Excluded: All non-professional
employees, management officials,
confidential employees, employees
engaged in personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity
and supervisors as defined in
Executive Order 11491, as amended.

Unit No. 14
Included: All professional and
non-professional employees of the
U.S. Army Electronics Research and
Development Command located at
For Monmouth and Lakehurst, New
Jersey, including temporary
employees with appointments of
over 90 days.
Excluded: Management officials,
supervisors as defined in
Executive Order 11491, as amended
and employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity.

Unit No. 15
Included: All guard and police
personnel of the Department of
Defense Guards at Fort Monmouth,
New Jersey.
Excluded: Management officials,
supervisors, employees engaged in
Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity
and confidential employees.

Unit No. 16
Included: All non-supervisory
employees of the Depot Property
Division and Purchasing and
Contracting Division, Directorate
for Services, Red River, Army
Depot.
Excluded: Employees within the
divisions who are assigned to
positions in the 5700 job
classification series.

Unit No. 17
Included: All non-supervisory
classification act employees of
Red River Army Depot.
Excluded: Employees assigned to
exclusive units included in the
Guard Unit, Firefighter Unit, and
non-supervisory Depot Property
Division and purchasing and
Contracting Division unit;
professional employees; employees
engaged
in Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity;
and temporary employees and
employees whose tenure at Red
River
Army Depot is expected to be not
more than one year.

Unit No. 18
Included: All appropriated fund
guard employees at Dugway Proving
Ground.
Excluded: All management
officials;
supervisors, professional
personnel and employees engaged
in Federal personnel work in
other than a purely clerical
capacity.

Unit No. 19
Included: All non-supervisory
General Schedule professional
employees of the Department of
the Army Headquarters, Army
Materiel Command, located in the
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan
area, including Personnel Support
Agency and Services Support
Agency.
Excluded: All non-professional
employees, Wage Grade employees,
management officials, employees
engaged in Federal personnel work
in other than a purely clerical
capacity, and supervisors,
confidential
employees and guards as
defined in Executive Order 11491,
and all other tenant
organizations.

Unit No. 20
Included: All non-supervisory
General Schedule non-professional
employees of the Department of
the Army Headquarters, Army
Materiel Command, located in the
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan
area, including Personnel Support
Agency and Services Support
Agency.
Excluded: All professional
employees, Wage Grade employees,
management officials, employees
engaged in Federal personnel work
in other than a purely clerical
capacity, and supervisors,
confidential
employees and guards as
defined in Executive Order 11491
and all other tenant
organizations.

Unit No. 21
Included: All professional
General Schedule employees,
including engineering and science
interns of Picatinny Arsenal and
tenant activities serviced by the
Picatinny Arsenal Civilian
Personnel
Office, including the
Office of the Project Manager for
Selected Ammunition, the Office
of the Project Manager for
Munitions
Production, Base Modernization
and Expansion, the Office of
the Project Manager for Safeguard
Munitions, the U.S. Army Health
Clinic, the U.S. Army
Communications
Command Detachment, the
U.S. Army Materiel Command Surety
Field Office, located at Dover,
New Jersey, the U.S. Army
Safeguard
Systems Command, Eastern
Area Contracts Field Office,
Whippany, New Jersey and Picatinny
Arsenal Engineering Field
Office, White Sands, New Mexico.
Excluded: Nonprofessional
General Schedule and Wage Grade
employees of the Microdata
Branch, employees whose primary
function is the preparation of
technical drawings, including
illustrator, technicians (draft),
engineering draftsmen (Mechanical)
and engineering draftsmen,
telephone operators, temporary
employees, employees of the
Defense Property Disposal
Activity,
employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity,
management
officials and supervisors
and guards as defined in the
Order.

Unit No. 22
Included: All Department of Army
Civil Service Employees
(Full-Time)
of the Indiana Army Ammunition
Plant,
Charlestown, Indiana.
Excluded: Management Officials,
Supervisors, Guards, (Security
Employees), Employees engaged in
Federal Personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity,
professional and those with a
temporary appointment limited to
one year or less.

Unit No. 23
Included: All professional and
nonprofessional Classification
Act and Wage Grade employees
employed by the U.S. Army
Development and Readiness Command
Automated Logistics Management
Systems Activity, and all U.S.
Army Development and Readiness
Command interns with duty station
at the Automated Logistics
Management Systems Activity, St.
Louis, Missouri.
Excluded: All supervisors as
defined in the Order, management
officials, employees engaged in
Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity,
guards and temporary excepted
appointment personnel such as
Summer Employment Youth (SEY),
Youth Opportunity Back-to-School
(YOB), Neighborhood Youth Corps
(NYC).

Unit No. 24
Included: All non-supervisory
employees of the Army Plant
Representative Office (AVRADCOM),
Boeing - Vertol Company, Morton,
Pennsylvania, including
non-supervisory professional
employees.
Excluded: Supervisors,
management officials, and
employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity.

Unit No. 25
Included: All GS and WG
employees employed by the Kansas
Army Ammunition Plant in Parsons,
Kansas.
Excluded: All professional
employees; management officials;
supervisors; and employees
described in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2),
(3), (4), (6) and (7).

Unit No. 26
Included: All non-supervisory,
Wage Grade employees of
Letterkenny Army Depot except
those serving under temporary or
excepted temporary appointments.
Excluded: Management officials,
supervisors, confidential
employees and employees engaged
in personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity.

Unit No. 27
Included: All non-professional
General Schedule employees of
Letterkenny Army Depot,
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
including all non-professional
General Schedule employee of the
U.S. Army Calibration and Repair
Center, U.S. Army Test Measurement
and Diagnostic Equipment Support
Group employed at Letterkenny
Army Depot. /8/
Excluded: Employees engaged in
Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity,
firefighters, guards, management
officials and supervisors as
defined by the Statute, and
employees of all other tenant
agencies at Letterkenny Army
Depot.

Unit No. 28
Included: All non-professional
employees, both General Schedule
and Wage Grade of the United
States Army Depot System Command,
Letterkenny Army Depot,
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Excluded: All professional
employees, management officials,
employees engaged in Federal
personnel work in other than a
purely clerical capacity,
supervisors and guards as defined
in Executive Order 11491, as
amended.

Unit No. 29
Included: All non-supervisory
personnel of the Security
Division, U.S. Army Headquarters
Installation Support Activity
(AVSCOM), Granite City,
Illinois.
Excluded: All management
officials, professional
employees, employees engaged in
Federal personnel work in other
than a purely clerical capacity
and supervisors as defined in
Executive Order 11491, as
amended.

--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------

/1/ At the hearing before the Authority, two units were deleted from the petition and changes were made in the description of three units. The units presently represented by NFFE and sought to be consolidated by the petition are set forth in the attached Appendix.

/2/ 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 any 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.

/3/ Section 7112(d) provides as follows:

(d) Two or more units which are in an agency and for which a labor organization is the exclusive representative may, upon petition by the agency or labor organization, be consolidated with or without an election into a single larger unit if the Authority considers the larger unit to be appropriate. The Authority shall certify the labor organization as the exclusive representative of the new larger unit.

/4/ See Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dallas, Texas, 5 FLRA 657(1981); Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, 5 FLRA 677(1981); Air Force Logistics Command, United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 7 FLRA No. 210(1981); Department of the Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, 8 FLRA No. 4 (1982); U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 11 Flra no. 28(1983); U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command, 11 FLRA No. 36(1983).

/5/ Inasmuch as all three criteria of section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute must be satisfied in order for the Authority to find that the proposed consolidated unit is appropriate, and a failure to satisfy any one of them must result in a finding that the unit sought is inappropriate, the Authority's finding that the unit sought herein fails to meet the community of interest criterion makes it unnecessary to address the other two criteria. See Department of the Navy, Aviation Supply Office, 12 FLRA No. 92 (1983), at note 4.

/6/ As amended at the hearing before the Authority.

/7/ As amended at the hearing before the Authority.

/3/ As amended at the hearing before the Authority.