| Comment Number: | EM-019749 |
| Received: | 3/10/2005 6:21:41 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:
March 10, 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. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. The way in which this NSPS proposal was activated shows great deception on the part of our govenment. It was passed by the house but the senate did not approve it. At that point a few words were changed and then it was inserted into a 700 page plus document so it would pass. My congress women did not even see the proposal until after it had been passed. The reason they even knew about was because a delagation of 700 AFGE and other union delagates were at their yearly convention in February 2003 and had set up appointments with the Washington State congress women Patti Murray and Maria Cantwell. When our delagates showed the letter announcing this NSPS plan they were totally ignorant of what was going on. I have worked for DoD for 18 years. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. I greatly resent the attitude of my government that all of a sudden I am a threat to my country. The NSPS system is not going to provide greater security it is just going to cost million and millions dollars changing a system that is not broken.Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency?s mission. I am very upset by NSPS. This system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. These rules would create a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism rather than serving the civil concerns of the American people. As things stand now rank and file employee's have no way to evaluate their managers. We are constantly being evaluated but there is no system to rate them. The rank and file need to be able to evaluate our managers because the "bad apple" managers that are in place now will just have more authority to abuse the rank and file workers. 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? I have heard it said that this NSPS system will "weed out" the deadbeat employees but no system will ever be able to do that. There will always be good workers and bad workers. There needs to be a way that the rank and file to get rid of bad managers. ?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. Ever since this NSPS system was announced tension amoung co-workers has increased ten-fold. We know that there will be favoritism and unfair evaluations directed toward employees who do not "conform" to a managers opinion. This is a given. It already exists now but at least we had a way to grieve unfair treatment through our union. Morale is low and will only get lower. Schedules and Overtime NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children and family. It will also mean that abusive managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. Civilian Deployment Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. I am proud to serve my country but I am also responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. We signed up for a civilian job. We did not enlist in the military. Today?s volunteer system works well. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But the regulations are an attack on workers? basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers? welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge you to force DoD to rethink this proposal. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. Sincerely,