| Comment Number: | OL-10507675 |
| Received: | 3/14/2005 1:52:59 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:
The National Security Personnel System (NSPS) change was approved by Congress shortly after 9/11. I believe it was passed in undo haste. The current system can be slow and cumbersome but this is for a reason. Wise decisions are seldom made in haste, all available information isn't used in the process. The current Civil Service System with its oversites is for all employee's protection, both management and labor. The current administration would have us believe they cannot fight the war on terrorism without these changes. This is not true, they espouse that civilians should be performing more military support jobs to free up military positions for direct combat. This can already be accomplished by changing current support type military positions to emergency-essential civilian slots. Change is a good thing, however it should be carefully researched, NSPS has not been which is evidenced in the vagueness of it's current written proposals. I would propose that changes be implemented incrementally instead of on wholesale basis. Pay for performance would be an ideal starting place, use teams as the basis not individuals. Most work is accomplished by teams pulling together not individuals. Award performances to teams of employees. Also the annual cost of living adjustment is an adjustment and not a raise. It is to keep wages adjusted for inflation, this should left totally separate from longevity (STEP) and performance raises. Employees have no control over inflation and adjustments for that should not be tied to performance! Finally pushing Unions out or trying to lower their effectiveness in the name of National Security is totally unAmerican. If the DoD can't afford the time to bargain due to a National Emergency current contracts could be extended until the situation is over or changed. The Government should not abdicate its responsibility to set the standard for labor-management relations by hiding behind the cloak of National Security. National Security begins at Home with a free people and open government. The Constitution has served us very well for over two hundred years with few changes. The current Civil Service System has served the country and the DoD very well for over fifty years through many crisis with few changes, let us take a lesson from history!