| Comment Number: | OL-10511340 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 3:07:23 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:
"Bill of Rights Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my concerns with the new system. All Sections-The use of the words flexible and contemporary in context with the scare phrase- the attacks of September 11... Is a ruse; not a reason for NSPS. The meanings of neither word have anything to do with stripping workers of their workplace democracy-, as is the case in this proposed regulation. These regulations make no case for the radical removal of rights balanced by any particular national security concern. When you cut to the chase through all the rhetorical power words like essential management flexibilities...what does that really mean? Total management rights? A Trust me management with no system of checks and balances to protect workers from abuses? Do we ignore years of experiences with abusive federal managers who have had thousands of federal courts and impartial arbitrators rule against them ordering millions of dollars of judgments in favor of abused federal workers? Are all the managers going to be replaced with brand new, well-trained, fair, and objective managers going to implement NSPS? CSRA has had a requirement since 1978 for federal managers to fairly and objectively rate every federal employee on their actual performance. To date, that hasn't ever happened. Now a worker's performance will be the determining factor in all aspects of conditions of employment and we are supposed to believe these same managers who have been required to accurately measure employees performance will now do it fairly and objectively in a system that has absolutely no meaningful system to challenge the supervisor's appraisal? Congress intended to preserve employee rights balanced by the unique security needs of the DOD when it passed PL108-136. This regulation makes a mockery of Congressional intent, e.g.- this proposal negates any collective bargaining at the whim of the Secretary. If a local collective bargaining agreement can be reached and signed, the Secretary can the very next day issue a directive that supercedes the agreement and null and void the agreement reached between the parties that both sides agreed made sense at that activity. The Secretary does not have to justify any personnel directive or issuances after this regulation becomes final. DOD said it wanted to incorporate the best practices of the private sector into NSPS. This regulation does the opposite. Is it right to take away the employees' workplace democracy? Why can't they work with the workers to make meaningful changes? It isn't- my way or the highway- as this proposed regulation is. Collective bargaining has been the most successful redistribution of wealth to workers in the history of the nation and created a middle class from poverty. NSPS is a direct threat to all collective bargaining. If you want to see the real intent and the blueprint for NSPS- visit the Right Wing "think tank", the Heritage Foundation website and call up an article titled Taking Charge of Federal Personnel written January 10, 2001, by George Nesterczuk (the principle consultant hired by DOD and sitting at the table in all discussions held with employee representatives over NSPS), Donald Devine and Robert Moffitt. This was well before 9-11. The attacks of 9-11 weren't the reason for NSPS, merely the opportunity. It appears that another reason is for NSPS to have the ability to use civilian personnel in the military chain of command so they can be deployed or reassigned just as a member of the military. In other words it's a way of drafting civilians. We want other countries to have democracy! However, what about our rights as government workers!!