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55 FLRA No. 53
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration Pacific Region and National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 212 (Vitaro, Arbitrator), 0-AR-2905 (Decided March 30, 1999)
The Arbitrator sustained two grievances filed by the Union, finding that the Agency violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Union and breached its statutory duty to bargain when it transferred several unit employees to an office in another city as part of an Agency reorganization effort. The transfer effectively removed those employees from the bargaining unit. The Authority denied the Agency's exceptions.
The Authority rejected the allegation that the Arbitrator exceeded his authority. The Authority noted that it was also possible to construe the Agency's assertion that the Arbitrator added to, subtracted from and disregarded the Agreement as an allegation that the Arbitrator's award failed to draw its essence from the parties' Agreement. In this regard, the Authority concluded, as well, that the Agency's exception did not provide a basis for finding the award deficient under section 7122(a)(2) of the Statute.
As to the second exception, the Authority found that the Arbitrator's discussion relative to the Agency's bargaining obligation did not direct bargaining. Thus, the Agency's exception, that the award required it to bargain over permissively negotiable section 7106(b)(1) matters, misconstrued the award. The Authority concluded that insofar as the Agency's exceptions challenged the Arbitrator's discussion of its bargaining obligation, it was unnecessary to address those exceptions.