| Comment Number: | OL-10506169 |
| Received: | 3/11/2005 12:06:37 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 write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD) under Proposed NSPS Regulations-RIN 3206-AK76/0790-AH82. I have worked for DoD for many years. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. An overwhelming majority of DoD employees work hard day in and day out and are committed to supporting the soldier, sailor, airman and marine 150% during times of conflict and peace. I believe that mistreating Defense Department employees through implementation of NSPS will hurt the agency's mission and the overall mission of DoD and the United States. I am very upset by NSPS. This system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled for work, and treated. These rules would create a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism rather than serving the civil concerns of the American people. With reference to annual pay raises under the General Schedule and FWS, employee pay was clear. It was funded by Congress and could not be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty in an attempt to save a few dollars at the expense of supporting the troops and the overall mission. Salaries and bonuses are currently funded by DoD. In the past - as recently as just last year - DoD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency's miserable record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that our salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future? Under this proposed "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. Presently, my coworkers and I have a union grievance lodged against our management here at the Directorate of Contracting at Fort Bragg, North Carolina because our supervisor is incapable and unwilling of applying written performance standards fairly and objectively. No training in the world or implementation of NSPS can change a manager like this that is abusive, subjective in application of these standards and retaliatory with reference to our grievance. This is the same manager who under the proposed NSPS system who would be trusted to be fair and impartial in awarding annual pay increases and bonuses. My co-workers and I highly doubt that this will ever occur while she is in a management capacity at the Directorate of Contracting at Fort Bragg, NC. I have worked for many years in both the private and public sector and have never seen such a convoluted personnel system as proposed under NSPS. Yet the present system is supposedly in need of overhaul. Perhaps it is, but before abandoning ship, try streamlining what we have in place and as guardians of this great country and taxpayers we might save a lot of money and time if the Secretary of Defense on down would look at streamlining the present system. The proposed NSPS system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will utterly destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. The proposed NSPS system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. The proposed NSPS will nullify the union’s ability to defend DoD employees such as myself and my co-workers from abusive, subjective and retaliatory actions as stated above. The proposed system will take the proverbial ‘teeth’ out of the Union’s ability to represent and defend its members. Please don’t be complacent and allow this tragedy to occur. Work schedules and overtime under NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children and family. It will also mean that abusive supervisors and managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notices. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which would mean that employees might not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. 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. We did not enlist in the military. Today's volunteer system works well. America is at war. We are fighting to spread Democracy abroad. But the proposed regulations under NSPS are an attack on workers' basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers’, sailors', airmen, and marines’ welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge that DoD be forced to rethink this proposal. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers.