Appropriate Unit Criteria. Under Section 7112 of the Statute, an appropriate unit is one that will ensure a clear and identifiable community of interest among the employees in the unit; promote effective dealings with the agency involved; and promote efficiency of agency operations. The Authority has set forth a variety of factors to assess whether a clear and identifiable community of interest exists. But the Authority has not specified the weight of individual factors or a particular number of factors necessary to establish an appropriate unit. The factors include: • geographic proximity, • unique conditions of employment or distinct local concerns, • degree of interchange between organizational components, • functional or operational separation, • whether the employees in the proposed unit are a part of the same organizational component of the agency and support the same mission, • are subject to the same chain of command, • have similar or related duties, job titles, and work assignments, 6 U.S. Dep’t of the Navy, Cmdr., Naval Base Norfolk, Va., 56 FLRA 328, 332 (2000) (Navy Norfolk).
