[ v15 p125 ]
15:0125(23)RO
The decision of the Authority follows:
15 FLRA No. 23
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
NAVAL HOSPITAL
SUBMARINE BASE BANGOR CLINIC
BREMERTON, WASHINGTON
Activity
and
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS,
AFL-CIO, DISTRICT LODGE 160, LOCAL
LODGE 282
Labor Organization/Petitioner
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 48
Labor Organization/Intervenor
Case No. 9-RO-30020
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under section 7111(b)(1) 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 contentions of the
parties, /1/ the Authority finds: The Petitioner, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, District Lodge
160, Local Lodge 282 (IAM), seeks to exclusively represent all
non-professional general schedule employees at the Naval Regional
Medical Clinic, Submarine Base Bangor (Subbase Bangor), excluding all
professional employees, management officials, supervisors and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
The Intervenor, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO,
Local 48 (AFGE) is the exclusive representative of two units of Activity
employees: (1) all professional employees of the Naval Regional Medical
Center, Bremerton, Washington (now called the Naval Hospital, Bremerton,
Washington), including employees of the Branch Clinic, Puget Sound Naval
Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, and employees of the Branch Clinic,
Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport, Washington,
excluding non-professional employees, management officials, supervisors,
employees of the Naval Hospital, Whidbey Island, Washington, employees
of the Naval Regional Medical Clinic, Seattle, Washington, employees of
the Branch Hospital, Adak, Alaska, and employees described in section
7112 (b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute; and (2) all
non-professional employees of the Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington,
including employees of Branch Clinic Puget Sound Naval Shipyard,
Bremerton, Washington, excluding professional employees, management
officials, supervisors, employees of the Branch Clinic, Naval Undersea
Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport, Washington, employees of the Naval
Hospital, Whidbey Island, Washington, employees of the Naval Regional
Medical Clinic, Seattle, Washington, employees of the Branch Hospital,
Adak, Alaska and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4),
(6) and (7) of the Statute. The AFGE units are covered by a multi-unit
negotiated agreement, effective May 25, 1983, for a duration of three
years.
The Activity argues that the proposed unit of non-professional
employees is inappropriate because the employees sought accreted to the
Naval Hospital bargaining unit exclusively represented by AFGE. It
contends, in addition, that the petitioned-for unit would fragment the
existing unit and would not ensure a clear and identifiable community of
interest nor promote effective dealings and efficiency of agency
operations, which are requirements for exclusive units under section
7112(a)(1) of the Statute. /2/ AFGE contends that it represents the
employees at the Bangor Clinic through accretion and that such employees
are covered under the parties' current multi-unit negotiated agreement.
On or about October 1, 1982, the Branch Clinic at Bangor was
organizationally transferred from the Commander at Subbase Bangor to the
Commander of the Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington. /3/ This
transfer of function was completed in August 1983. The employees of the
Branch Clinic at Bangor have not physically moved, are under the same
immediate supervision and perform the same work as they performed prior
to the reorganization. However, substantial organizational and
operational changes have occurred. Thus, the officer-in-charge (OIC) of
the Bangor Clinic now reports to the Commander of the Naval Hospital
instead of to the Subbase Commander, and the OIC now is considered a
department head of the Naval Hospital. Further, the Bangor Clinic
employees are now covered under the Naval Hospital's personnel policies
and practices. They share the same competitive area for
reductions-in-force and are in the same area of consideration for merit
promotions as other Naval Hospital employees. Also, all administrative,
personnel and labor relations services are centralized at the Naval
Hospital, and Bangor Clinic employees' personnel files have been
physically located at the Naval Hospital facility since the
reorganization. Bangor Clinic employees have the same position
classifications as other employees of the Naval Hospital, and have the
same accreditation requirements; thus, jobs are interchangeable among
employees at the hospital and its clinics, and at least one transfer has
occurred from the hospital to the Bangor Clinic. Further, the employees
at the Bangor Clinic have regular contact with employees at the Naval
Hospital concerning patient care, supplies and training.
Based on the foregoing, the Authority finds that following the
Activity's reorganization of October 1, 1982, the employees of the
Bangor Clinic, including the non-professional employees whom IAM here
seeks to represent in a separate bargaining unit, accreted to the
respective units of professional and non-professional employees at the
Naval Hospital exclusively represented by AFGE. It is clear that Bangor
Clinic employees are organizationally and functionally integrated into
the Naval Hospital's structure because, as noted, administrative,
personnel and labor relations functions are centralized at the Naval
Hospital level. Further, the Authority notes that the employees of the
Bangor Clinic and the employees in the AFGE units share common overall
working conditions; have similar position classifications and job
requirements; are in the same area of consideration for merit
promotions; and are in the same competitive area for
reductions-in-force. Therefore, it is concluded that the Bangor Clinic
employees share a community of interest with employees in the Naval
Hospital units, and that those units, as clarified, will promote
effective dealings and efficiency of agency operations. See U.S.
International Trade Commission, New York Office, 8 FLRA 283 (1982). /4/
Having concluded that the employees at the Bangor Clinic accreted
into the respective professional and non-professional AFGE units, it
follows that the unit of non-professional employees sought in the
petition filed by the IA, herein is not appropriate for the purpose of
exclusive representative inasmuch as these employees do not share a
community of interest separate and distinct from the other Naval
Hospital employees exclusively represented by AFGE. That petition,
therefore, shall be dismissed.
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that the respective professional and non-professional
employee units for which the American Federation of Government
Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 48 holds exclusive recognition at the Naval
Hospital, Bremerton, Washington, be, and they hereby are, clarified to
include in such respective units all eligible employees of the Branch
Clinic, Bangor, Washington, who were organizationally transferred to the
Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington from the command of the Submarine
Base Bangor on October 1, 1982.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 9-RO-30020
seeking to represent the non-professional employees at the Branch
Clinic, Bangor, Washington, in a separate unit be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
Issued, Washington, D.C., June 14, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ The opeiu was certified as the exclusive representative on March
6, 1981, for a unit defined as follows: all professional and non
professional employees of the department of energy's oak ridge
operations and technical information center, excluding employees
represented by other labor organizations in exclusive units, management
officials, supervisors and employees described in 5 usc 7112(B)(2), (3),
(4), (6), and (7).
/1/ The brief filed by the American Federation of Government
Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 48 was untimely filed and therefore was not
considered by the Authority.
/2/ Section 7112(a)(1) provides:
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 an 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/ It does not appear that prior to the transfer the employees of
the Bangor Clinic were exclusively represented by any labor
organization.
/4/ Compare U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office,
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 15 FLRA No. 24 (1984), (accretion was denied
because there was no community of interest between the employees at
issue and those already in the unit, after a reorganization), and
Federal Aviation Administration, Aviation Standards National Field
Office, 15 FLRA No. 14 (1984) (none of the labor organizations involved
sought to accrete any previously represented employees into their own
units of exclusive recognition).