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13:0052(10)CU - Defense Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center, Kansas City Office, Kansas City, MO and AFGE Local 2786 -- 1983 FLRAdec RP



[ v13 p52 ]
13:0052(10)CU
The decision of the Authority follows:


 13 FLRA No. 10
 
 DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY,
 AEROSPACE CENTER, KANSAS CITY
 OFFICE, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
 Activity/Petitioner
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2786, AFL-CIO
 Labor Organization
 
                                            Case No. 7-CU-39
 
                            DECISION AND ORDER
 
    Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority
 under section 7111(b)(2) 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 American Federation of Government
 Employees, Local 2786, AFL-CIO (the Union), was recognized in 1969 as
 the exclusive representative for a unit of all employees in the Defense
 Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center, Kansas City Office, Kansas City,
 Missouri (the Activity/Petitioner), excluding all management officials,
 employees engaged in personnel work in other than a purely clerical
 capacity, confidential employees and supervisors.  The Activity's
 petition seeks to amend the description of the recognized unit to
 exclude "all management officials, supervisors, and employees described
 in 5 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7)" from the existing unit of
 all employees in the Defense Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center, Kansas
 City Office.  The parties stipulated that the proposed amendment to the
 unit description is solely for the purpose of technical conformance with
 the standard statutory exclusions from bargaining units required by the
 Statute, and would not otherwise alter the character or scope of the
 unit.  Noting that the proposed amendment of the unit description is
 consistent with the exclusions from recognized units set forth in the
 Statute, and in view of the parties' agreement, the Authority shall
 order that the description of the unit herein be amended as sought.
 
    The petition also seeks to clarify the unit eligibility of David
 Manspeaker, Security Clerk (Typing) GS-303-05, in the Activity's
 Security Office.  The Activity contends that Manspeaker should be
 excluded from the unit on the ground that he is engaged in security work
 which directly affects national security within the meaning of section
 7112(b)(6) of the Statute.  /1/ The Union opposes such exclusion.
 
    The Defense Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center (DMAAC), Kansas City
 Office is a field office of DMAAC, a part of the Department of Defense
 which has headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.  The mission of the
 Kansas City Office of DMAAC is to compile sensitive information such as
 air target charts for the Strategic Air Command and aeronautical charts
 and digital data for computerization to be used for other defense
 purposes, the compromise of which would cause grave national security
 implications.  The Security Office is a detachment of a special security
 office at DMAAC headquarters in St. Louis.  It provides document and
 personnel security as well as facility security to the Activity.
 
    As a security clerk, Manspeaker has a "critical sensitive"
 classification in the Security Office.  He acts as the custodian of the
 classified documents repository which requires his participation in the
 receipt and logging in of all classified material up to and including
 top secret classification.  Manspeaker controls access to classified
 material and to the secure area of the repository, authorizing access
 only after proper security clearance is provided in conformance with
 existing security guidelines and procedures.  Manspeaker's other duties
 involve acting as a courier of highly classified material, assisting in
 the destruction of classified material according to specific
 instructions, and maintaining a reference library of classified
 documents.  In addition, Manspeaker assists a superior during periodic
 inspections of the Activity's facility for security violations.  At the
 hearing, the parties stipulated that special security procedures used by
 Manspeaker in his duties involving the protection of classified material
 were themselves classified and therefore were not released by the
 Activity.
 
    As the record shows that David Manspeaker, Security Clerk (Typing)
 GS-303-05, handles, controls access to, destroys, transports and
 protects highly classified information which directly affects national
 security, the Authority finds that he should be excluded from the
 recognized unit pursuant to section 7112(b)(6) of the Statute.  See
 United States Department of the Navy, U.S. Naval Station, Panama, 7 FLRA
 No. 74, at 495 (1981).  /2/
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the unit sought to be amended herein for
 which the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2786,
 AFL-CIO, was recognized as the exclusive representative in 1969, be
 amended to read as follows:  Included:  All employees in the Defense
 Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center, Kansas City Office.  Excluded:  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 FURTHER ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified herein be
 clarified by excluding from said unit the position Security Clerk
 (Typing), GS-303-05.  Issued, Washington, D.C., September 19, 1983
                                       Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ Section 7112(b)(6) provides:
 
          Sec. 7112.  Determination of appropriate units for labor
       organization representation
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (b) A unit shall not be determined to be appropriate under this
       section solely on the basis of the extent to which employees in
       the proposed unit have organized, nor shall a unit be determined
       to be appropriate if it includes--
 
                                .  .  .  .
 
          (6) any employee engaged in intelligence, counter-intelligence,
       investigative, or security work which directly affects national
       security(.)
 
 
    /2/ Cf. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations, Oak Ridge,
 Tennessee, 4 FLRA 644 (1981), wherein the Authority adopted a Judge's
 decision, in the absence of exceptions, that lower-graded clerk-typists
 and stenographers in different classification series, were not engaged
 in security work directly affecting the national security merely because
 they had access to sensitive information and performed routine clerical
 duties in a security office.