Comment Number: 05-02582-EREG-29-d7391-c31953
Received: 2/24/2005 8:00:00 AM
Subject: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
Title: National Security Personnel System
CFR Citation: 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901
No Attachments

Comments:

I am writing to you because of my concern about the so-called National Security Personnel System (NSPS) scheduled for implementation for more than 700,000 employees of the Department of Defense over the next year.
During congressional hearings on this issue, the Secretary asserted that the Pentagon's broad mission requires greater "flexibility" in hiring, disciplining, compensating and assigning civilian personnel.
Although Congress acceded to the broad requests lodged by the DOD, it attached certain strict conditions--including a specific requirements that DOD observe legal requirements of labor relations statutes and that they involve duly elected unions in the development of the new system. The Pentagon has done neither.
Although DOD has convened a dozen or more meetings to "brief stakeholders" and to "solicit the views" of unions, there has been no information sharing from DOD and absolutely no response to repeated union requests for specific information as to exactly what problems management wishes to address with the adoption of NSPS.
I am certain that one of the Pentagon's objectives in advancing NSPS is to construct a so-called "pay for performance" system. This is another case of deceptive labeling. Various government agencies have been testing performance pay systems for more than 20 years and invariably, the results have been that the majority of workers feel cheated when advancement, promotion and pay decisions are given over to the sole discretion of a supervisor. The process typically reduces salaries and morale. It is too autocratic and eliminates any redress for decisions made on the basis of considerations other than merit.
I have been a proud federal employee for over 17 years and am glad to be of service. However I feel that I am being thrown aside or ignored. I am a single parent raising two teenagers, taking care of my blind diabetic father, and assisting to raise my grandchildren so that my daughter can stay off welfare. I have worked hard to get where I am  I worked full-time and went to school to get my computer degree and have taken several comuter based training courses to help me do my job better. It is not fair to have to worry about my job  will it be there, what if my boss decides he does not like me and decides to get rid of me because I do not share his sense of values or I dont play politics or brown nose like others do, what do I do if they decide to just up and transfer me- I can not just up and move.
For these reasons, I oppose the implementation of NSPS and I urge you to act to instruct the Secretary of Defense to halt any further development of NSPS unless and until the Pentagon is willing to substantively address the issues raised by the United DOD Workers Coalition.