Comment Number: OL-10510131
Received: 3/16/2005 6:01:30 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:

I think the NSPS is a crock. The NSPS as I see it is aimed at shutting up employees and their unions. This is not a good thing, especially in public service. DoD employees need to be working for their country, not to please any supervisor. I have seen some of the supervisors my wife has had to deal with over the years. My wife has been president of her union for over 12 years. I have seen how hard she works, on and off duty. She always says the union represents employees' rights, not their wrongs. There have been managers and supervisors she's dealt with who were incredibly skilled, mature leaders, and there have been others who were totally unsuited for any kind of power over people. If her union wasn't there, these people would be in total power. What are these opportunities that NSPS says civilians are being denied? What work is it that military are being used for and civilians aren't? I don't understand that, because I remember when an ice storm took out the electricity to our whole area in 1998 and the military were told their place of duty was their home, but the civilians were required to either come in or request leave or else they would be considered AWOL. We were 21 days without power but my wife worked the whole while. Our neighbors and family said they could see who did the work at the Fort. The commander said the soldiers were needed in their communities. (Like the civilians weren't part of the same communities?!) My wife is very honest and hardworking and she tells employees their responsibilities. She doesn't just take up any argument, she does what is best for the mission and she is the first one to tell employees if they are wrong. People come to her union because they need help and they can trust her. DoD is going to take away the tools she uses to defend Employees against bad judgements and managers who don't even care what the rules are. Even a good manager makes mistakes, and people need to have an advocate who can handle that. American workers have union rights, and these rights should NOT be taken away from people who work for America. I seriously question whether DoD intends to do anything with the comments received. I am 99% sure that they will say "Yup, we looked at them" and go ahead with what they want and how they want it. Congress needs to stop them and tell them to leave union rights the way they are, if not make them stronger.