Opinion ID: 458975
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Inconsistent Rulings

Text: 18 In its Local 32 opinion, the FLRA recognized that it previously had found that proposals seeking to define competitive areas were within the duty to bargain in two types of cases. Local 32, 14 FLRA 754, 755. The first type of case, exemplified by National Treasury Employees Union and Department of Health and Human Services, Region IV, 11 FLRA 254 (1983) (Union Proposal 1), involved a situation where the applicability of the proposal to non-bargaining unit employees was not asserted by the agency as a ground for precluding negotiation of the proposal. Thus, according to the Local 32 opinion, this ground was not considered by the Authority in such a case. See Local 32, 14 FLRA at 755 (explaining circumstances of this type of case). We have no quarrel with the Authority's effort to distinguish this case. 19 The Local 32 opinion pointed to a second type of case where the Authority had held a proposed competitive area to be within an agency's duty to bargain, Association of Civilian Technicians, Pennsylvania State Council and Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard (ACT), 14 FLRA 38 (1984). According to the Local 32 opinion, in ACT, the proposal effectively would have limited the competitive area to the bargaining unit and the Authority found that the agency had not asserted, nor was it otherwise apparent, that the proposal was inconsistent with laws or regulations applicable to National Guard Technicians. Local 32, 14 FLRA at 755. Although the Local 29 opinion did not directly mention the ACT opinion, the Authority incorporated the reasons and cases cited in Local 32, thus reaffirming its previous conclusions about the meaning of the ACT opinion. See Local 29, 16 FLRA at 78. Thus, both the instant cases present the question whether the Authority has treated like cases differently. Because we find that the Authority's decision in ACT is, on its face, inconsistent with the results obtained in the instant cases, and because the Authority's attempt to distinguish ACT is inadequate, we remand to the Authority. 20 To highlight the inconsistency between ACT and the instant cases requires that we first summarize in some detail the Authority's opinion in ACT. In ACT, Union Proposal 1 stated that Non-bargaining unit technicians will not compete with bargaining unit technicians for bargaining unit positions. ACT, 14 FLRA at 38. The FLRA stated that the proposal would only apply in a RIF situation where bargaining unit positions were being eliminated. Id. In other words, according to the FLRA, Union Proposal 1 would define the competitive area, i.e., the organizational boundaries within which employees who are affected by the RIF would compete for retention in the Agency, as being the bargaining unit. Id. In denying the negotiability of this proposal, the National Guard asserted that, by preventing non-bargaining unit technicians from competing in a RIF with bargaining unit technicians, the proposal would directly affect the working conditions of non-bargaining unit employees, and, thus, that the proposal was outside the Agency's duty to bargain. The FLRA rejected this argument, stating: 21 In this connection, the Authority has previously stated that a bargaining proposal which directly affects the conditions of employment of bargaining unit employees and is otherwise consistent with applicable laws and regulations is within the duty to bargain despite the fact that such proposal also would affect employees outside the bargaining unit. 22 ACT, 14 FLRA at 39. 23 On its face, this passage in the ACT opinion conflicts with the FLRA's declarations in Local 32 and Local 29 that a proposal which affects the conditions of employment of non-bargaining unit employees is outside the statutory duty to bargain. This apparent conflict is highlighted by four additional considerations. The first is that the principle that a proposal may be a mandatory subject for bargaining despite its effect on non-bargaining unit employees appears fairly well established in FLRA precedent. 5 A second consideration which further highlights the conflict is that the Authority's opinions in Local 32 and Local 29 appear to be at odds with a familiar principle of private labor law, 6 that a proposal concerning terms and conditions of employment is within the employer's duty to bargain, despite its potential effects on third parties. See, e.g., Ford Motor Co. v. NLRB, 441 U.S. 488, 502, 99 S.Ct. 1842, 1851, 60 L.Ed.2d 420 (1979) (holding that proposal concerning in-plant cafeteria prices was within duty to bargain despite fact that prices were set by third-party supplier rather than employer); Allied Chemical & Alkali Workers v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 404 U.S. 157, 179, 92 S.Ct. 383, 397, 30 L.Ed.2d 341 (1971) (indicating that in each case the question is not whether the third-party concern is antagonistic to or compatible with the interests of bargaining-unit employees, but whether it vitally affects the 'terms and conditions' of their employment); Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203, 210, 85 S.Ct. 398, 402, 13 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964) (holding that employer's failure to negotiate with the union concerning its decision to contract out maintenance work violated statutory duty to bargain with respect to terms and conditions of employment). A third fact which highlights the inconsistent treatment of this issue is that, in one of the instant cases, the Agency had, in the previous bargaining period, assumed that the definition of competitive area in a RIF was the proper subject for bargaining. See App., No. 84-1250, at 10 (noting that such a provision was agreed to in 1980 collective bargaining contract). No doubt there are other negotiating parties that are uncertain whether such proposals are or are not proper subjects for bargaining. See App., No. 84-1578, at 23 (Union indicates that a good number of our negotiated agreements have these definitions included within them). So long as the apparent inconsistency between ACT and Local 32 remains, this uncertainty will continue. 24 The fourth, and most telling, consideration highlighting the conflict between the decisions in the instant cases and the decision in ACT appears in the Authority's incomplete attempt to distinguish ACT. To restate the FLRA explanation of ACT: In that case, the proposal effectively would have limited the competitive area to the bargaining unit and the Authority found that the agency had not asserted, nor was it otherwise apparent, that the proposal was inconsistent with laws or regulations applicable to National Guard technicians. Local 32, 14 FLRA at 755. This explanation is incomplete because it does not state that the proposal would have had no effect on non-bargaining unit employees. Indeed, such a statement apparently could not be made. The FLRA stated that the objective of the proposal in ACT was to ensure that bargaining unit employees would compete only with each other for retention in bargaining unit positions. The proposal thus affected the terms and conditions of employment of the bargaining unit employees by determining who they would compete against for bargaining unit positions. Conversely, the proposal affected non-bargaining unit employees by excluding them from competition for bargaining unit positions. In addition, the FLRA's statement of the principle that a bargaining proposal which affects the terms and conditions of employment of bargaining unit employees is a mandatory subject for bargaining despite its effect on non-bargaining unit employees, see ACT, 14 FLRA at 39, assumes that there was an effect on non-bargaining unit employees in that case. 25 It appears that, since the Local 32 decision, the FLRA has adhered to the view that proposals to define competitive areas in the RIF context are non-negotiable. See, e.g., Department of Housing and Urban Development and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 476, AFL-CIO, 18 FLRA 783, 785 n. 3 (1985); National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1705 and General Services Administration, 17 FLRA 945, 946 (1985); National Treasury Employees Union and Department of Health and Human Services, Region VII, Office of Human Development Services, 17 FLRA 589, 590 (1985); Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Region II and American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Council No. 242, 17 FLRA 329, 330 (1985). Nevertheless, the inconsistency between the ACT and Local 32 approaches remains. In the interest of facilitating judicial review of the FLRA's decision in this area, and in order to ensure that future negotiations are conducted within an atmosphere of certainty as to the applicable law, we must require the Authority to either explain its apparently inconsistent treatment of the cases or explicitly adopt a new approach.