Comment Number: EM-022861
Received: 3/16/2005 5:34:52 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 16, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I believe that the safeguards in 5 USC Chapter 71 are there for good and valid reasons and that DoD does not need to be exempt from the Statute. I originally became a union member because my supervisor at the time said to me, "Nothing against your work. In fact, we are going to miss your work, but I don't like you and I am going to take your Federal career away." Under NSPS she could easily have done that. Since then as a union representative I have been able to further the DoD mission by helping to take care the people who do the work. These people are dedicated to our soldiers. Many are veterans or military family members. They deserve good working conditions and nothing in Title 5 keeps them from getting the job done. Our system already has pay for performance. It already has effective ways of addressing poor performance or conduct. If you want to increase its effectiveness, spend some resources on training supervisors, managers, and Employees on their responsibilities as Federal employees. Tell them what the rules are, and most people will live within them. Tell them what the rules are, and they will see to it that others follow the rules as well. Years ago I was told by a LTC I worked for that unions were obsolete because all they do is try to make Management live by the rules Management set in the first place. To a large degree, he was correct. We work to enforce rules Management made (i.e., laws, regulations) or agreed to (i.e., contracts, etc.) Don't take away our ability to do that. Let's identify what's wrong with our personnel system and work together to fix it. Don't threaten employees with loss of pay, job security, or involuntary relocations/deployments. That may work in the short term but it will drive away the best and the brightest and lead to mission failure. Sincerely,