| Comment Number: | EM-023551 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 11:40:04 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 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 have worked for DoD for 16 years and I believe that NSPS will negatively affect the way that we do business everyday. Under the NSPS our pay raises will no longer be annual cost of living raises, but a tool that a bad supervisor could affect my pay for years to come just by withholding 1 yearly raise. I live and work in Massachusetts, a fact of life is that it is one of the more expensive areas in the country to live. By not receiving a cost of living raise it could potentially force me to look in other areas for employment. This new pay system will also bring back the "good old boy network" which seems to have dissapeared over the last several years. You will have a situation in which people are forced to compete with other workers creating constant "backstabbing" and friction in the workplace. The whole teamwork concept that is so important would be all but gone. Furthermor the scheduling flexibility that NSPS gives bosses makes this plan basically impossible to have anything that resembles a normal home life. One supervisor could potentially ruin anything that resembles normality in your life just for his or hers personal gains. 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. 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,