| Comment Number: | EM-001409 |
| Received: | 2/27/2005 9:48:17 PM |
| 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:
February 27, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. I have worked for DoD for years. I am very angry that these proposals have the one sole intention of making work life unpleasant and crummy and miserable for all DoD employess, take job security away from them wholesale, devastate morale, and take away benefits and bargaining rights. I am wholly and totally against it. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency?s mission. I am totally against NSPS. Its one main motivation is to fire more workers and cut back on the benefits of those that are retained and not replaced by non-DoD contractors simply to pay for the Iraq war. What a way to treat people. Just wonderful. Furthermore, the usual spin and promo and barrage of advertising yak yak yak that has accompanied this proposal are all completely transparent lies. "We need more flexibility to achieve a more mission oriented workforce, to get the job done, managers need more flexibility, we need to have more efficiency and productivity and more efficiency and productivity, etc. etc. etc." and all those other catchy buzzwords that are supposed to make it look better than sliced bread and needed to replace a deficient and inefficient and unproductive system. Wrong. The system as it stands is just fine. The only thing that is wrong with it is that managers do not have summary firing rights. We don't need that. Also, pay demotions are proposed without limits. That is no way to maintain morale. There are caps on pay raises but no limits on pay decreases. Wonderful. I don't want to see pay decreases at all. I think it is a bad idea. Annual Pay Raises Under the General Schedule and FWS, employee pay was clear. It was funded by Congress and could not be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty. Salaries and bonuses are funded by DoD. In the past ? as recently as just last year ? DoD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency?s miserable record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that our salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future? ?Friend of the Supervisor? Pay System With the new patronage pay system, which DoD calls ?pay for performance,? the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgment of his or her manager. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. This system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. Sincerely,