| Comment Number: | OL-10511103 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 2:01:46 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| Attachment: | NSPS.doc Download Adobe Reader |
Comments:
I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). General: I believe the proposed NSPS will undermine the Civil Service and hurt the mission of the DoD employees. I have worked for DoD for close to 30 years. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency’s mission. I am very upset by NSPS. This system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, 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. If NSPS is so great will the Congress, Senate, and Cabinet abide by living under the oppression of NSPS. The baby boomer generation as had the mind set of security in a job. NSPS will destroy that and drive many of the experience, dedicate, loyal and patriot workers away. The new hires can have NSPS, not the current work force. Soldiers are fighting and dying to bring democracy to the world. Meanwhile, here in the USA, NSPS and the USA government is stripping the working families who provide support for these soldiers of their rights to a living wage. That is NOT democracy. Subpart C Pay, Sections 9901.301 to 9901.373: The employees in DoD should continue to receive the same annual pay across-the-board adjustment that other GS/FWS workers receive. The individual pay increases for performance should include guaranteed percentages in the regulations so that employees will understand the pay system and what their pay increase will be depending on their performance. 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. Salaries and bonuses are 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? Inflation, taxes, fees, insurance, gasoline, minimum wage…the list goes on are all escalating in cost. If federal employees are not paid fairly the number and quality of employees will dwindle. Subpart D Performance Management - 9901.401 to 9901.409: In order to insure fairness and accuracy, DoD employees should be able to appeal any performance rating to an independent grievance and arbitration process like they can do now. The “Buddy”, “Good Ole’ Boy”, and “Friend of the Supervisor” Pay System is unfair. 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. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will 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. This 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. Competition will cause less team work. As a civil servant I have taken personal pride in my work. I, any many more, go above and beyond the call of duty and this is WITHOUT competition. We work to do the job better than ourselves, which is the only competition, self improvement to continue do the best damn job. Subpart E Staffing and Employment – 9901.501 to 9901.516 The proposed regulations would replace longstanding provisions on hiring foun in 5 U.S.C chapters 31 and 33 with unpublished procedures that will be prescribe at some future date through implementing issuances. Using this approach will allow the Defense Department to arbitrarily develop and administer new rules on staffing and employment that have not been available for public comment. This is especially troubling given the proposal to engage in non-citizen hiring to positions within NSPS. Subpart F Workforce Shaping - 9901.6012 to 9901.611: DoD should not change the current layoff/RIF rules which give balanced credit to performance and the employees valuable years of committed service to DoD. Subpart G Adverse Actions - 9901.701 to 9901.810: Due process and fairness demand that the independent body reviewing a major suspension as termination be allowed to alter the proposed penalty if they deem it to be unreasonable. The current standards approved by the courts to guide such bodies should continue to be used. Subpart I Labor-Management Relations - 9901.901 to 9901.929: The labor management law that has governed the employees’ right to organize and engage in collective bargaining has worked well since 1978. There is no compelling reason to take away most of the collective bargaining rights or grievance rights. Schedules and Overtime - 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 managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may 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 for democracy abroad. But the regulations are an attack on workers’ basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers’ welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge you to force DoD to rethink this proposal. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. How embarrassing.