| Comment Number: | EM-023547 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 2:49:03 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 16, 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. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. I am a veteran, a retired artilleryman. It looks as if the DOD workers are being pushed back to the time that only cronies of elected officials got gov't jobs and the pay was directly related to how much they kissed up to the boss. Congress took action to change all that a long time ago and now DOD has seemed to manuever themselves into a position to take that control away from congress and utimately build the largest federal payroll into their own corporate program. I believe setting employees against each other as this pay system would do will hurt the mission of taking care of soldiers and thier families. We can not afford that in the current wartime military!! ?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. I don't notice any other branch of government jumping on this bandwagon! This system will create a situation in which workers are afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. And as written there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But these 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. Send these workers the message that you value their contribution to the defense of our country and support the working families right to fair treatment in the workplace. Deeply concerned for our country's welfare