| Comment Number: | EM-022865 |
| Received: | 3/17/2005 9:02:04 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 17, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: Gentlemen, The proposed regulations known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005 collectively undermine the mission of the DoD and are a disservice to the American people. I feel strongly enough about this to write my representatives in Congress. The proposed regulations are a blatent attempt to reduce costs on the backs of the people most dedicated to the security and well being of our country. The loss of qualified personnel and experience which will result from the implementation of these policies can only harm the DoD's mission. This proposal would unreasonably change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. This proposal would create a system which discards civil reforms and safeguards aimed at protecting the American people from favoritism, cronyism and incompetence. As proposed, employee pay will be tied to the personal judgment of his or her manager. This cannot help but institute a patronage pay system which will ultimately undermine the agency's primary mission. In addition, the proposed changes will create an environment in which workers could be made afraid to speak out about incompetence or legal violations in procurement. The proposed changes make it possible for abusive managers to harass employees in a number of ways without review or sanction. Morale In addtiion to undermining the DoD's mission, the proposed changes would allow managers to arbitrarily change employees' work schedules without sufficient advance notice. The impact on working parents, their children and family will be severe and is likely to undermine morale to a significant degree. The degree to which the proposed changes deprives public employees of the abilty to contribute to their destiny in the workplace corresponds directly to the degree in which morale is threatened by these changes. Dispirited employees will not, cannot, further the agency's mission. As a nation, we are at war. We fight to inculcate in a foreign culture the very values and principles of fairness that the NSPS undermines. How can we justify this conflict as a just war if we choose to ignore the very principles we espouse as essential to a free society? We should, rather, defend the current work rules from any assault because they are fair, promote efficiency, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. To do otherwise is to undermine the very principles of democracy that every military serviceman is sworn to uphold. Sincerely,