Comment Number: OL-10511976
Received: 3/16/2005 7:05:46 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've read through many of the comments addressing all of the changes being FORCED on the civilian work force, and I am not surprised to see that EVERY comment I read was a NEGATIVE one! As a prior employee in the Management-Employee Relations field (before CPOC/CPAC), I was the performance management and awards administrator for the installation. I advised and trained managers in both of those areas and worked hard to ensure that both programs were fair and equitable. I believe the current system did not work and the new system also will not work unless managers and supervisors become perfect human beings without bias. Unfortunately, people are people, and you will always have those who show favoritism and who will recruit, award, and promote friends and family first. NSPS will just give them more flexibility and more power to do whatever they want. I think the solution is to hold managers and supervisors' feet to the fire for unfair labor practices, while at the same time making employees take responsibility for poor behavior. The solution? Train managers and supervisors to do the right thing with their employees and train employees to be successful employees. As for raises in pay and monetary awards based on performance in pay banding -- what a fantasy. Our monetary awards were taken away 15 years ago when a RIF-happy era began. Supposedly, the money was used to save jobs. Guess what happened? The DRM used the money, but could not tell us which jobs were saved, nor how many jobs were saved. Now they tell us there is no money, but management has reinstituted a monetary awards program. We've been given a budget of .5% of our pay. Great awards program. The civilians in my organization are very low grades so those being recognized each get a miniscule amount for doing the work of 2 individuals. Larger organizations with employees at higher grades get larger monetary awards (sometimes unfairly). Also, we cannot promote or give quality step increases because the installation nor our MACOM has civilian pay dollars. So, when pay banding is implemented and the performance is exceptional, where is the money coming from? Do you think pay banding is going to make an honest broker of every manager and supervisor? What about appeal rights? Since the union will be ineffective and grievance rights will be virtually nonexistent, be prepared for a HUGE surge of EEO complaints -- looks like that will be the only recourse. I think you will need to hire more labor law attorneys and EEO Specialists to keep up with the workload.....and be prepared to pay big bucks in cases lost. I have worked for the government for 35 years and have always been proud of my service. I still have 10 more years before I retire. How sad it makes me to know that my government does not care about me or about the welfare of my fellow employees -- how sad that my government would arbitrarily implement a personnel system that will only hurt us -- over our protest, and in spite of it.