[ v15 p851 ]
15:0851(160)RO
The decision of the Authority follows:
15 FLRA No. 160
UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS
OF ENGINEERS, FORT WORTH DISTRICT
SOMERVILLE PROJECT OFFICE /1/
Activity
and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2881
Labor Organization/Petitioner
Case No. 6-RO-30010
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority
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 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
Petitioner, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2881,
AFL-CIO (AFGE or Petitioner), seeks an election in a unit composed of ,
all professional and nonprofessional employees of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Fort Worth District, Somerville Project Office, Somerville,
Texas, excluding all management officials, supervisors, and employees
described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute.
At the hearing, the Petitioner further proposed, as an alternative, that
the employees in the petitioned-for unit be added to the unit it
currently exclusively represents which is composed of all
nonprofessional employees at the Whitney Project Office and Power Plant,
excluding management officials, employees engaged in Federal personnel
work in other than a purely clerical capacity, guards, and supervisors.
The Fort Worth District, in part, consists of a District office
located in Fort Worth, Texas and 17 Operations and Maintenance, and
Multi-Purpose Flood Control Project Offices (Project Offices), including
Somerville. The heads of such offices report to the Chief of the
Operations Division in the District Office. /2/ These project offices
are responsible for: (1) operating and maintaining public use areas and
managing all project lands and resources such as fish, wildlife,
forestry, and grazing; (2) operating and maintaining dams, power
plants, spillways, and outlet works; (3) administering rules and
regulations governing public use of the particular project; and (4)
inspecting local levee districts and providing advice on maintenance and
assistance during emergencies. Although the operation of power plants
is set forth as a function, only two project offices, Sam Rayburn-Town
Bluff and Whitney, operate such plants, in addition to performing the
other functions mentioned above. /3/
The Activity opposes the petitioned-for unit contending that it is
not appropriate under the criteria set forth in section 7112(a)(1) of
the Statute /4/ because the employees involved do not share a community
of interest separate and distinct from the employees in the other
project offices which do not operate power plants; that such a unit
would lead to unwarranted fragmentation of a major component of the
District; and that such a unit would not promote effective dealings and
efficiency of agency operations. It also asserts that the alternate
unit is inappropriate because the employees located at the Whitney
Project Office, which operates a power plant, share a community of
interest separate and distinct from employees in the other project
offices without power plants including the petitioned-for unit, and
further contends that such unit is incompatible with the Whitney
bargaining unit which excludes professional employees.
The record establishes that the employees in the petitioned-for unit
do not share a clear and identifiable community of interest separate and
distinct from the employees in the other unrepresented project offices
and thus such a unit would not be appropriate under section 7112(a)(1)
of the Statute. These employees who would be included in the proposed
unit, share with the employees in the other unrepresented Project
Offices a common mission and organizational structure; possess similar
job classifications and job descriptions; /5/ perform similar work
functions; and have essentially similar working conditions. Further,
the record reveals that the employees in the petitioned-for unit are
subject to the same personnel policies and practices established by the
Fort Worth District's Personnel Office (e.g., merit promotion and
reduction-in-force procedures) as the other employees. Thus, in view of
the above, the Petitioner has not established that the employees in the
unit sought share a clear and identifiable community of interest
separate and distinct from the employees in the other unrepresented
Project Offices. /6/
Further, the Authority finds that the proposed alternative unit of
the petitioned-for Somerville employees and the employees in the
currently recognized Whitney Project Office and Power Plant unit also is
not appropriate. In so finding, the Authority notes particularly that
the employees in the petitioned-for Somerville Project Office, which
includes professionals, are more closely aligned and share a clear and
identifiable community of interest with other employees in the
non-represented project offices of the District, and that the unit at
Whitney specifically excludes professionals and includes additional job
classifications related to its power plant functions.
Based upon the foregoing, the Authority concludes that neither the
petitioned-for unit nor the alternate unit is appropriate for exclusive
recognition under section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute and the petition
shall therefore be dismissed.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 6-RO-30010 be, and
it hereby is, dismissed.
Issued, Washington, D.C., August 30, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ The name of the Activity appears as corrected at the hearing.
/2/ The documentary evidence reveals that there are 17 project
offices that report to the Operations Division, however, it is noted
that this number may vary depending upon whether certain offices are
counted as one or separately (e.g., Navarro Mills-Bardwell or Bardwell
and Navarro Mills and Belton-Stillhouse or Belton and Stillhouse).
/3/ These offices are the only ones in the Fort Worth District that
are exclusively represented. Since approximately 1969, the Petitioner,
as mentioned above, has represented a unit of nonprofessional employees
located at the Whitney Project Office and AFGE, Local 2732 has
represented a unit of nonsupervisory, nonprofessional employees located
at the Sam Rayburn-Town Bluff Project Office.
/4/ Section 7112(a)(1) provides in pertinent part:
. . . The Authority 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.
/5/ These job classifications include Park Ranger, GS-0025-09; Park
Technician, GS-0026-07 and 06; Clerk-Typist, GS-0322-03, and 05; and
Maintenance Worker, WG-4749-08, 06, and 06. The two project offices
currently represented include such job classifications as well as other
classifications related to their power plant functions, such as Power
Plant Mechanic, WB-5324; Power Plant Shift Operator, WB-5407; and
Power Plant Electrician, WB-2810.
/6/ In order to be found appropriate, a proposed unit must meet all
of the three criteria for appropriateness established in section
7112(a)(1) of the Statute; a failure to satisfy any one of them must
result in a finding that the unit sought is inappropriate. Department
of the Navy, Navy and Printing Service Branch Office, Vallejo,
California, 10 FLRA 659 (1982).