American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2910 and Library of Congress (Authority decision, August 28, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority on a negotiability petition. 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

The Library of Congress locked a roof parking lot entrance and required employees to enter through a guarded front door. AFSCME Local 2910 proposed giving employees keys so they could use the roof door during working hours. The Authority found that the agency's controlled entrance was part of its plan to protect government property. Giving employees roof door keys would defeat that plan and interfere with the agency's right to determine internal security practices. The proposal was outside the duty to bargain, and the Authority dismissed the union's petition.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Internal security practices under 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a)(1).
• Outcome: Petition dismissed; roof door key proposal held nonnegotiable.
• Key point: A proposal that negates an agency's guarded entrance plan interferes with its internal security right.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v15 p612 ]

15:0612(131)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

15 FLRA No. 131

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE,
COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES,
AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2910
Union

and

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Agency

Case No. O-NG-721

DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE

This petition for review 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 concerning the negotiability of one Union proposal.

Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination. The negotiability appeal in this case arose over the Agency's decision to lock the entrance door from a roof parking lot used by employees. Without this roof access to and from the building, employees are required to walk down the parking ramp and enter and exit through the front door which is guarded by a uniformed police officer. The Union submitted the following proposal concerning the impact of the decision to lock the roof door.

Union Proposal

Employees will be given keys to the door on the roof of the Taylor Street facility; the roof door shall be accessible by key during the hours when employees are at work.

The Agency states that locking the roof door is part of its plan to control access to the building for the purpose of, among other things, preventing theft of government property. In agreement with the Agency, the Authority concludes that this proposal interferes with the Agency's right pursuant to section 7106(a)(1) of the Statute to determine its internal security practices. In this regard, an agency's right to determine its internal security practices includes the right to determine policies and actions which are part of its plan to secure or safeguard its physical property against internal or external risks. See American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 32 and Office of Personnel Management, Washington, D.C., 14 FLRA No. 2 (1984) (Union Proposal 2).

In this case the Agency has determined that an essential component of its plan to secure its physical property is to provide access to the building only through a guarded front door. The Union proposal however, by providing employees with duplicate keys to the roof door, effectively negates this plan. Therefore, it directly interferes with the Agency's right to determine its internal security practices and is outside the duty to bargain. See American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 15 and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, North Atlantic Region, 2 FLRA 875 (1980).

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Union's petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed.

Issued, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY