| Comment Number: | OL-10510037 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 12:21:21 AM |
| 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:
Section 9901.914 The proposed regulations take dead aim at two rights federal agencies have long resented- formal discussions and “Weingarten” meetings. A union would be entitled to attend a formal discussion only where a new personnel policy or working condition is being announced. The regulations would exclude formal meetings about EEO complaints from the coverage of formal discussions. As far as “Weingarten” meetings are concerned, the new regulations would overrule the Supreme Court’s decision that independent agencies acting on behalf of management, like the IG, must allow union representation. Perhaps the most disturbing part of DOD’s explanation of its regulations appears here (page 7571 of the Federal Register issuance). DOD says that it will hold union representatives to the same standards of behavior in these meetings as any other employees. The comments that correspond to this proposal say that DOD’s new regulations reject the “flagrant misconduct” doctrine developed over the years by the FLRA (and the NLRB as well). The message is that union representatives will have no protection for any kind of vigorous expression of their viewpoints. So much for the Supreme Court and that bad FLRA (sarcasim).