Comment Number: OL-10502802
Received: 3/2/2005 11:21:50 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:

I have been in Federal Civil Service through many conflicts now where my service directly and/or indirectly contributed to the mission. Through the years, our armed forces have been equipped and trained in a manner second to none. We have the world’s greatest and most powerful military, largely due to the men and women behind the scenes doing what was needed to procure and maintain the best equipment available. The service and dedication to our country by Civil Service personnel for the most part went above and beyond when called upon in the service of our country. I was asked to work overtime during the gulf war in order to get equipment to troops and I did what was needed, along with many other Civil Service employees. Contracts prevented contractors from doing the same so the bulk of the work fell upon Civil Service who gladly did what was needed to supply the mission. I even witnessed many times when Civil Service people worked a few minutes, or sometimes more, without it being recorded for pay purposes. They knew that the mission for that day needed to be completed and they did what it took. Some of my fellow Civil Service co-workers voluntarily went to the gulf to service equipment on the spot. Don’t forget that with Veteran’s Preference hiring practices in place, as well as RIF protections, veterans make up a substantial part of Civil Service. However, during this same time period, I have lived through base closings, RIF’s, contracting out my job series to reduce my promotion and retention possibilities, hiring freezes that reduced my chances of moving up, year after year in the late 80’s and early 90’s of limited cost of living adjustments “to set an example to the private sector”, pay inequities that needed to be changed by special acts in order to attract and keep new employees in the few places DOD has hired Civil Service, and benefits that are second rate compared to large companies in the private sector, and more. We don’t even have employer contributed dental, hearing, or vision plans. What we do have is extremely limited parts, if any, of those services in current medical plans. Now we are asked to live with a reduction in rights and rely solely on whether a supervisor likes you for a determination on how much you get paid, rather than how long you have served your country. Even enlisted troops get "Time in service" and “Time in grade” pay. While I recognize that the system could be improved upon, and that a relatively few give the majority of us a bad name, it should not fall upon the backs of patriotic well serving individuals to pay the price for the sins of a few and the broken system that needs fixed, not replaced. During my many years in Civil Service I have had many supervisors; Some better than others. In all cases they were humans with human traits and prejudices; With different likes and dislikes. Each of these supervisors had different interpretations of how things should be done, whether a person’s behavior was “normal” or acceptable, and of how well people were doing their jobs. And sadly to say, some of them had their favorites because those favorites did things on a personal level that appealed to supervisors, rather than on a job level. I will go one step further. While I am very happy with the current management I work for, in the past I have been the victim of personal assaults upon my career from a bad supervisor and fellow co-workers trying to get ahead and get promotions for themselves and friends. Doing so required convincing management of things that were not true of both Civil Service employees and contractors. Unfortunately, they were successful.To my great relief the union was there and procedures were in place that seen that I was treated fairly. I beg of you, fix the system, don’t punish the defenders of the nation for a broke system anymore. We have seen endless assaults over the years, enough! Remember us veterans are in this attack on Civil Service as well!