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57 FLRA No. 146
U. S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D.C. and AFGE, Local 12 (Vaughn, Arbitrator), 0-AR-3423 (Decided February 28, 2002)
The Arbitrator concluded that the Agency violated the parties' collective bargaining agreement by implementing a new government-wide qualification standard without completing bargaining over a proposal submitted by the Union. The Authority found that the Agency failed to demonstrate that the award was deficient. The Authority concluded that the award was neither contrary to law, nor failed to draw its essence from the agreement.
The Authority found that the Agency did not demonstrate that the award was contrary to law. The Authority explained that as the basis for his finding of a violation, the Arbitrator determined that the Agency should have taken one of two actions if it believed it had no further duty to negotiate over the Union's proposal. In the Arbitrator's view, the Agency was required either to assert that the proposal was nonnegotiable or otherwise outside the duty to bargain or, alternatively, the Agency was required to invoke the impasse procedure of Article 36, Section 5, which includes requesting Panel assistance under § 7119 of the Statute. The Authority further explained that under the express terms of § 7119, either party may request the assistance of the Panel in resolving a negotiation impasse. In this case, the parties contractually agreed to a procedure that included recourse to the Panel. As interpreted by the Arbitrator, this contractual provision required the Agency to utilize the impasse procedure of § 7119, or some other action that was not here in dispute, in attempting to resolve outstanding issues with respect to Proposal 6. There was nothing in the contract provision, as interpreted by the Arbitrator, that was contrary to law. The Authority also rejected the allegation that the arbitrator exceeded his authority.