Comment Number: OL-10502560
Received: 3/2/2005 12:31:31 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:

Reference: Docket Number NSPS 2005-001 Supplemental Information Pay and Pay Administration – Subpart C (pp 7559-7560) This subpart talks about linking pay to performance but the bottom-line regardless of the appraisal will depend on the size of the pay pool. This could lead to all types of pay problems because of lack of funds. The unwritten part of the plan seems to lead to ultimate pay reductions across the board Supplemental Information: Adverse Actions – Subpart G (pp 2764-7565) 2. Mandatory Removal Offenses. It states, “ This subpart permits the Secretary to identity offenses…These proposed mandatory removal offenses would be identified in advance and made known to all employees.” This is unfair to the employees. What will these offenses be? Whatever the Secretary decides? This appears to be a subjective determination by the Secretary. If the offense is as grave as it is supposed to be, it should already be illegal. Creating an arbitrary list of offenses will create an atmosphere of suspicion and undermine Department morale and possibly cohesion. Supplemental Information: Adverse Actions –Subpart G (p7565) 3. Adverse Action Procedures This subpart’s true notification periods amount to virtually no time at all for an employee to mount a solid defense. It reads more as a summary execution. Supplemental Information: Appeals – Subpart H (p 7565) This is basically an end to the appeals process. If the Department can over ride the decisions of an Administrative Judge and the MSPB, then there is no recourse for employees affected by adverse actions. Supplemental Information: Labor-Management Relations – Subpart I 2. Definitions (p7569) This subpart completely undoes “Collective Bargaining.” There is no “Collective Bargaining” because as it states, “…collective bargaining is modified …to remove the term “consult” because consultation, under the proposed regulations, as well as under chapter 71, does not require that the parties reach an agreement” This is not collective bargaining. Supplemental Information: Labor-Management Relations – Subpart I 6 Labor Security Labor Relations Board (p 7569) This new organization is set up by the Secretary and for the Secretary. This is nothing but a rubber stamp board for whatever the Secretary wants. This is not a board to assist with collective bargaining but a method to ramrod whatever management wants. Supplemental Information: Labor-Management Relations – Subpart I 7. Management Rights (p7570) This section discusses nonnegotiable subjects, “The proposed regulations prohibit bargaining over the exercise of these rights enumerated in Chapter 71, including the right to determine mission, budget, organization and internal security practices, and the right to hire, assign and direct employees and contract out.” This completely overthrows A-76 studies as method to determine whether federal employees can do the work or if it should be done by contractors. This is nothing short of a hand over of work to contractors in the name of National Security. Supplemental Information: Labor-Management Relations – Subpart I 13, Duty to Bargain and Consult (p7572) This section basically states that there is no bargaining and consultation. This section is an attempt to cut the unions out of Department negotiations all together.