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56 FLRA No. 174
U.S. Dept. of the Navy, Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland and U.S. Dept. of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters, Patuxent River, Maryland and AFGE, Local 1603, AFL-CIO, Case No. WA-RP-90076 (Decided December 22, 2000)
In this application for review, the Union sought review of the Regional Director's (RD's) decision denying the Union's petition to accrete certain employees into an existing bargaining unit. The RD found that accretion principles were not applicable and that, even if they were, the proposed unit was not appropriate under § 7112(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. The Authority found that the RD failed to apply established law in concluding that accretion principles were not applicable, but that he did not fail to apply established law in concluding that the petitioned-for unit was not appropriate under § 7112(a) of the Statute. Accordingly, the petition for review was granted in part, denied in part.
With regard to the RD's failure to apply established law, the Authority explained that accretion involves the addition of a group of employees to an existing bargaining unit without an election based on a change in agency operations or organization. Because accretion precludes employee self-determination, the accretion doctrine is narrowly applied. Here, the Authority found that the RD failed to apply established law when he concluded that accretion principles did not apply in this case.
The Authority noted that it has consistently held that, in deciding questions of accretion, it is bound by the three criteria for determining the appropriateness of a unit set forth in § 7112(a) of the Statute. In considering the first criterion -- community of interest -- the Authority examines factors such as the agency's mission, organizational and geographic structure, chains of command, working conditions, conditions of employment, and personnel and labor relations policies. In accretion cases, the Authority also examines whether employees have been organizationally and operationally integrated. Determining whether employees are sufficiently integrated is based on, among other things, the degree of interchange between employees, the similarities in positions and duties, and the commonality of administrative and organizational functions, missions and chains of command. Finding accretion only where employees have been sufficiently integrated is consistent with the principle that the accretion doctrine is narrowly applied.
The Authority concluded that the Union failed to establish that review was warranted of the RD's finding that the employees were not sufficiently integrated so as to share a community of interest for the purposes of accretion. Accordingly, the Union's application for review was denied.