| Comment Number: | EM-017424 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 11:48:26 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:
March 15, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: 1. Why should federal civilian employees be paid via "Pay for Performance" (pay banding) without guaranteed annual cost-of-living increases and pay parity with the private sector equivalent jobs when military members continue to receive guaranteed pay increases regardless of their performance? True military members may not get promoted rapidly due to lower evaluation scores but the annual increases and longevity increases (every two years) still happen regardless of ratings. 2. Military members are not paid according to their actual job but are paid according to rank/grade and longevity (not unlike the current civil service system). Imagine how much could the military save if each member was paid according to their actual job along with "Pay for Performance". Soldiers could be paid per enemy killed and supervisors could be docked for everyone under their command who was killed. Automatic instant discharge or "firing" would result from killing a civilian or a "friendly force member" in a "friendly fire" incident. Yes, the military should also work under the NSPS rules; it obviously will make them "more productive". (I hope you can detect the dripping sarcasm".) There is no difference between the military and civil service employees with regard to the "teamwork" aspect of our jobs. Both the military member and civil service employee work together (with their respective teammates), hand-in-hand, to complete the mission. NSPS will destroy the teamwork within the civilian side as each member competes to receive more money than his/her teammates. 3. Many federal employees are themselves ex-military (veterans). Why should we, as a government, suddenly start to treat them differently concerning pay? Rents don't go down each year. Food doesn't cost less each year. Gasoline costs keep rising (by-the-way, where is the cheap oil from Kuwait and Iraq to reimburse us for their freedom?). Every day it becomes more and more clear that the only financial benefits to U.S. citizens accrue to those who own stock in the oil companies and companies doing business in Iraq. Most Americans get nothing from this. 4. It is asserted that the Civil Service System is over 50-years old and needs to be replaced with a modern private sector model. Hogwash!!! The U.S. Constitution is over 215-years old, yet we're not dumping it for a "more modern" one. True, we do modify it to adjust to current situations, but we don't just "throw out the baby with the bath water". Likewise, it is totally unnecessary to abandon the Civil Service System in favor of the inferior and destructive NSPS. 5. The NSPS as published in the Federal Register contains far too many paragraphs that basically say, "we'll have a fair and equitable pay system?, or "we'll provide a fair and impartial appeal system" (in the future) and " just trust us now to fill in the details later". Do any of the designers of the NSPS (or members of Congress for that matter) remember that the Founding Fathers created our system of checks and balances exactly because citizens were not supposed to "trust" anyone running the government? That's why there are public galleries in the capitol and oversight committees in the first place; so everyone can be watched or monitored. 6. The NSPS as presently designed is seriously flawed and will cause more harm than good. It needs to be abandoned. Sincerely,