Federal Labor Relations Authority v. U.S. Dept. of Defense, U.S. Dept. of Navy, Washington, D.C.
| Decision Date | 09 October 1992 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 90-4722,90-4775,s. 90-4722 |
| Citation | 975 F.2d 1105 |
| Parties | 141 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2614, 61 USLW 2300 FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY, Petitioner-Cross-Respondent, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the NAVY, WASHINGTON, D.C., and Navy CBC Exchange, Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport, Mississippi, Respondents-Cross-Petitioners. FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY, Petitioner-Cross-Respondent, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, ARMY AND AIR FORCE EXCHANGE, DALLAS, TEXAS, Respondent-Cross-Petitioner. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Pamela P. Johnson, William E. Persina, Sol., William R. Tobey, Deputy Sol., Federal Labor Relations Authority, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.
Elaine Kaplan, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Nat. Treasury Employees Union.
Stuart Kirsch, Asst. Gen. Counsel-Litigation, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, College Park, Ga., Mark D. Roth, Gen. Counsel Asst. Federal Defender, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C., for intervenor A.F.G.
Sandra W. Simon, Leonard Schaitman, William Kanter, Appellate Staff, Civ. Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Robert Edwards, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Chief, Labor/Workers Compensation Law Branch, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dallas, Tex., for respondents.
Applications for Enforcement and Cross-Petitions for Review of Orders of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Before KING, JOHNSON, and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.
In these two cases two labor organizations who represent federal employees requested that the federal agencies disclose to the unions the names and home addresses of all of the employees in the relevant bargaining units. The employer agencies refused, and the unions filed unfair labor practice charges with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). The FLRA ordered the employers to disclose the names and addresses, and has applied to this Court for enforcement of its orders. The federal agency employers have petitioned for review of those orders.
The facts of these two cases are virtually identical. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1657, represents a bargaining unit composed of all regular full-time and part-time employees, and all intermittent employees of the Navy Exchange in Gulfport, Mississippi. In August 1988 the union requested that the Navy Exchange disclose to it the names and home addresses of all of the employees in its bargaining unit. The Navy Exchange refused the union's request. The union responded by filing an unfair labor practice charge with the FLRA. The FLRA ruled in favor of the union, and ordered the Navy Exchange to cease and desist from refusing to furnish the names and home addresses of all employees in the bargaining unit the union represents. In case No. 90-4722 the FLRA and the Navy Exchange seek enforcement and review of that order.
The American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1345, represents a consolidated, worldwide bargaining unit composed of all regular full-time and part-time employees, and all intermittent employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and operates a facility at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado. In October 1988 the union requested that the Exchange disclose to it the names and home addresses of all of bargaining unit employees working at the Post Exchange at Lowry AFB. The Exchange denied the request, and the union filed and unfair labor practice charge with the FLRA. The FLRA ordered the Exchange to disclose the names and addresses. In No. 90-4775 the FLRA and the Exchange seek enforcement and review of the FLRA's order.
Because the disputes in these cases arise out of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq., it is helpful to begin with a review of that statute and certain of the duties and obligations it places on labor organizations and federal employers.
In adopting the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq., (the "FLRS"), Congress observed that
experience in both private and public employment indicates that the statutory protection of the right of employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations of their own choosing in decisions which affect them safeguards the public interest, contributes to the effective conduct of public business, and facilitates and encourages the amicable settlements of disputes between employees and their employers involving conditions of employment.
5 U.S.C. § 7101(a)(1). "Therefore," the Congress declared, "labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest."
To facilitate collective bargaining in the public sector, the FLRS provides that a labor organization may serve as the exclusive bargaining representative of a group of public employees as long as it fulfills certain duties. In particular, the FLRS provides that "[a]n exclusive representative is responsible for representing the interests of all employees in the unit it represents without discrimination and without regard to labor organization membership." 5 U.S.C. § 7114(a)(1). That is, the labor organization must represent the interests not only of its dues-paying members, but also the interests of those employees in the unit who choose not to join the union. Thus, the requests by the unions in this case for the names and addresses of employees in the relevant bargaining units were requests designed to allow the union to contact not its own members, but rather the other employees in the units, so that the unions could determine what issues were of concern to those employees.
The FLRS also imposes obligations on the employer. For instance, in order to facilitate the bargaining process, federal employers are required
to furnish to the exclusive representative involved, or its authorized representative, upon request and to the extent not prohibited by law, data which is reasonably available and necessary for full and proper discussion, understanding, and negotiation of subjects within the scope of collective bargaining.
5 U.S.C. § 7114(b)(4)(B).
The FLRA has taken the position that the names and addresses of employees in the bargaining unit is data which is "reasonably available and necessary" to the process of collective bargaining. The FLRA first took this position in its decision in Farmers Home Administration Finance Office v. American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3354, 23 FLRA 788 (1986) ("Farmers Home Administration" ), when it observed that
[s]ection 7114(a)(1) of the [FLRS] provides that an exclusive representative is responsible for representing the "interests of all employees in the unit it represents without discrimination and without regard to labor organization membership." Under this provision, a union's statutory responsibilities extend to all bargaining unit members. It is obvious that a union must be able to identify and communicate with those bargaining unit members if it is to adequately represent them.
Id. at 796. The FLRA thus concluded that disclosure of the names and addresses was necessary because it would "enable the Union to communicate effectively and efficiently, through direct mailings to individual employees." Id. Moreover, the FLRA held, the existence of alternative means of communication--such as desk drops, direct distributions, meetings, bulletin boards, and direct personal contacts--"is insufficient to justify a refusal to release the [names and addresses]." Id. This is so
because the communication between unit employees and their exclusive representative which would be facilitated by release of names and home addresses ... is fundamentally different from other communication through alternative means which are controlled in whole or in part by the [employer] agency. When using direct mailings, the content, timing, and frequency of the communication is completely within the discretion of the union and there is no possibility of agency interference in the distribution of the message. Further, direct mailings reach unit employees in circumstances where those employees may consider the union's communication without regard to the time constraints inherent in their work environments, and in which any restraint the employee may feel as a result of the presence of agency management in the workplace is not present.
Id. at 796-97. The FLRA has recently reaffirmed its position in United States Dep't of the Navy, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard v. International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 4, 37 FLRA 515, 523 (1990) ("Portsmouth" ), and its orders in the two cases before this Court were based on the decisions in Farmers Home Administration and Portsmouth.
The FLRA's determination that the names and addresses are necessary for full and proper collective bargaining has been uniformly upheld in the federal courts of appeals. Initially, because the FLRA's position is one interpreting its own enabling statute, its interpretation cannot be upset by the federal courts as long as it is a "reasonable and defensible construction" of the statute. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms v. FLRA, 464 U.S. 89, 97, 104 S.Ct. 439, 444, 78 L.Ed.2d 195 (1983). That is, the FLRA's interpretation of the FLRS must be Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843-44, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). See also Department of Justice v. FLRA, 939 F.2d 1170, 1173 (5th...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Us Dep't of Defense v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth.
...are entitled to receive employee home addresses under the National Labor Relations Act, Congress may correct the disparity. Pp. ____. 975 F.2d 1105, THOMAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and BLACKMUN, STEVENS, O'CONNOR, SCALIA, KENNEDY, and SOUTER, JJ., j......
-
Church of Scientology of Texas v. IRS, A 91 CA 152.
...to the light of public scrutiny." Rose, 425 U.S. at 372, 96 S.Ct. at 1604; See also, Federal Labor Relations Authority v. United States Department of Defense, 975 F.2d 1105, 1110 (5th Cir.1992), petition for cert. filed, 61 U.S.L.W. 3534 (U.S. January 19, 1993) (No. 92-1223), (citing, Hallo......
-
Federal Labor Relations Authority v. U.S. Dept. of Defense, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dallas, Tex., s. 90-9561
...that federal unions are entitled to the addresses of their bargaining unit employees. See FLRA v. United States Dep't of Defense, 975 F.2d 1105 (5th Cir.1992) [hereinafter Fifth Circuit Defense ]; FLRA v. U.S. Dep't of the Navy, 966 F.2d 747 (3d Cir.1992) (en banc ) [hereinafter Third Circu......
-
Department of Defense v. Flra
...are entitled to receive employee home addresses under the National Labor Relations Act, Congress may correct the disparity. Pp. 502-504. 975 F. 2d 1105, THOMAS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and BLACKMUN, STEVENS, O'CONNOR, SCALIA, KENNEDY, and SOUTER, J......