| Comment Number: | OL-6200000 |
| Received: | 2/14/2005 11:41:00 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:
This proposal moves the civil service system back to a time when there was no management accountability. In the pre-1978 civil service, management was not even held accountable for following their own rules. Recruiting and retaining qualified workers was difficult if not impossible because of the system in place. Widespread management abuses lead to stronger unions with voices in Congress that resulted in the civil service reform act of 1978. One of the main features of that act was management's obligation to bargain in good faith. There is no valid reason to deny that obligation. Collective bargaining and agreements provide for a more efficient organization. It does not hinder management. A workforce that knows what the rules are for both sides and honors agreements is stronger than a workforce that is in constant fear that management can unilaterally change the rules without consultation, negotiation, review or appeal. We cannot let recent events lead to the ruin of the partnership in management that has grown between labor and management. That partnership has benefited both and abolishing it would hurt both. Management must honor its agreements with labor or workers will not trust management. If workers cannot trust management, they will not stay. How will civil service attract, hire and retain the most qualified and dedicated workers if there is no integrity in management? The answer is simple. It can't. Labor unions fullfil and important role that management chooses to ignore and limit in the future.