Labor-Management Relations

MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

Department of the Air Force, Langley Air Force Base, Langley AFB, Virginia and Local R4-26, National Association of Government Employees, SEIU, AFL-CIO, Case No. 98 FSIP 146, December 4, 1998 (Release No. 415).

The AGENCY proposed the following:

Nothing in this Article shall preclude the Employer and the Union from negotiating:
a. at the election of the agency, on the numbers, types, and grades of employees or positions assigned to any organizational subdivision, work project, or tour of duty, or on the technology, methods, and means of performing work.
b. procedures which management officials will observe in exercising any authority under this Article; or
c. appropriate arrangements for employees adversely affected by the exercise of any authority under this Article by such management officials.

The UNION proposed that the parties take the Article off the table until the courts rule on the issue of whether Executive Order 12871 is enforceable under the Statute.

The PANEL ordered the parties to adopt the AGENCY's proposal.

The AGENCY proposed the following:

It is agreed that matters appropriate for negotiation between the parties shall include personnel policies and working conditions, including but not limited to such matters as safety, training, labor-management relations, employee services, methods of adjusting grievances, granting leave, promotion plans, demotion practices, pay practices, reduction-in-force practices, and hours of work which are within the discretion of the head of the agency. These matters are related to policy determinations, not day-to-day operations. It is agreed that the fact that certain matters appropriate for negotiations have been excluded from this agreement does not relieve either party of its obligation to meet and confer on these not initially covered here. The obligation to meet and confer does not include matters with respect to the Employer's mission, budget, organization, the number of employees, and the numbers, types, and grades of positions or employees assigned to an organizational unit, work project, or tour of duty, the technology of performing its works or its internal security practices.

The UNION proposed that the contract remain silent and not restate or paraphrase statutory management rights. The parties should rely on the Statute and case law to determine what is appropriate for negotiation.

The PANEL ordered the parties to adopt the UNION's proposal.