| Comment Number: | OL-10510999 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 1:27:58 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 am opposed the so-called National Security Personnel System (NSPS) scheduled for implementation for more than 700,000 employees of the Department of Defense over the next year. I am not and never have been a member of a union but neither the Secretary of Defense nor anyone else offered any examples to explain how union rights might have impinged on our Nations security. I think this is another case of deceptive labeling. This system will force workers to compete against one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. This 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. Can you imagine a whistle blower under this system coming forward? The workers are not the enemy! Poor managers are. This is a labor relations and performance management concept that is remarkably regressive and a license to discriminate. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad but maybe we should be fighting for it right here first! NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers welfare to protecting themselves. I urge you to rethink this proposal. Work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the workers must be preserved or we become nothing more than another version of the old Soviet Union. It is our workforce that comprises the backbone of our National Security. Someone of your importance should be the first to recognize this fact and support it. The new pay system will have little if any effect on the good leaders, who give good rating to good employee and bad rating to those who perform poorly. This new system will be a great tool for the poor managers. It should be called “Friend of the Supervisor Pay System “. If you really want to improve government, the first step is to hold managers accountable. No one has been able to show one instance where the DOD workforce has created a problem that has had any impact on National Security? Challenge those proponents of NSPS to show just one real case? For these reasons, I oppose the implementation of NSPS and I urge you to halt any further development of NSPS.