American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2047 and Defense Logistics Agency, Defense General Supply Center, Richmond, Virginia (Authority decision, December 13, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority resolving a negotiability appeal. An aggrieved person may seek review in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a).

Plain-English summary

The union proposed receiving the names of employees selected for promotion, including supervisors and managers, before the agency announced the selections publicly. The Authority found that the union had not shown how advance access to those names affected bargaining unit employees' conditions of employment. Because the proposal covered supervisory and management positions generally, the agency had no duty to bargain over it. The Authority dismissed the union's petition.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Conditions of employment under 5 U.S.C. § 7103(a)(14).
• Outcome: Proposal outside the duty to bargain; petition dismissed.
• Key point: The union did not establish a bargaining unit connection for advance notice of supervisory and management promotion selections.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v16 p805 ]

16:0805(110)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

16 FLRA No. 110

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2047, AFL-CIO
Union

and

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY, DEFENSE
GENERAL SUPPLY CENTER,
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

Case No. O-NG-743

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 raises an issue concerning the negotiability of the following Union proposal.

Section 5 A 11

Provide the Council Local with a copy of the Promotion Referral List and the subsequent supplement list thereto at the same time that the referral list is submitted to the directorate/office having the vacancy. The names of the employees selected for promotion, including supervisory and management positions, shall be provided to the Council Local Office prior to the announcement of the promotion. The Council Local shall recognize the confidentiality of the promotion eligibles certified for selection and person(s) selected for promotion. (The underlined portion of the proposal is in dispute.)

Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination. The instant proposal seeks to have furnished to the Union, prior to public announcement, the names of successful candidates for supervisory and managerial vacancies. While the Union asserts, generally, that "(s)upplying such information to the union helps to insure stability and effectiveness of labor-management relations," it does not demonstrate how receipt of the information prior to the public announcement would, in fact, insure those objectives. In this regard, it is well established that the duty to bargain under the Statute extends only to those conditions of employment, i.e., personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting working conditions, which affect bargaining unit employees. See e.g., National Federation of Federal Employees, Council of Consolidated Social Security Administration Locals and Social Security Administration, 13 FLRA No. 73 (1983). Proposals which concern management and supervisory positions are generally not negotiable except at the election of management. /1/ International Association of Fire Fighters, Local F-61 and Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 3 FLRA 438 (1980). As noted, the Union has not shown, and it is not otherwise apparent that the disputed proposal pertains to conditions of employment within the meaning of section 7103(a)(14) of the Statute. /2/ Consequently, the Agency is not obligated to bargain on the proposal. /3/

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

Issued, Washington, D.C., December 13, 1984

/s/ Henry B. Frazier III
Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
Chairman
/s/ Ronald W. Haughton
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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

/1/ Cf. Methods and Standards Association and Naval Air Rework Facility, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, 2 FLRA 286 (1979), (proposal requiring that unit employees temporarily assigned to higher grade positions, including supervisory positions, for five days or more receive temporary promotions found to be within the duty to bargain).

/2/ The record reveals that a master agreement, covering the parties herein, includes within the compass of its merit promotion procedure "those threshold first-line supervisory positions, GS-12 and below, in the normal line of progression of bargaining unit personnel." However, the Authority does not reach the question of whether the disputed part of the proposal would be negotiable if applicable only to such positions because the proposal would cover supervisory and management positions generally.

/3/ The Union's reference to Federal Personnel Manual Supplement 711-1, Appendix C, governing the release of certain information to labor organizations, in support of its proposal is inapposite, since the Agency does not contend that the Union would not be entitled to the information sought after the promotions in question had been publicly announced.