GovernmentExecutive.com

The Homeland Security Department told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday that it will not implement labor relations rules related to its new personnel system before the department's authority to do so expires in January 2009.

DHS and the Office of Personnel Management "will not revise the permanently enjoined regulations...at any time prior to the expiration of the agencies' authority to revise those regulations," the department wrote in its court filing. "DHS will proceed with labor relations pursuant to applicable law."

Federal labor union leaders applauded the move. "This is a monumental victory," said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley. "It puts to rest DHS efforts to gut employees' collective bargaining rights and give management unfettered discretion to alter fundamental conditions of employment without giving employees any say."

The department filed a status report with the court in January saying that it had not made a decision yet on whether to proceed with revising the labor relations rules. In June 2006, the court extended the deadline for DHS to make its decision.

A number of factors forced Homeland Security's hand. The fiscal 2008 omnibus spending package allocated no funds for the personnel system, effectively blocking the department from implementing the new rules. And in June 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declared that the proposed labor relations program violated DHS employees' legal rights to collective bargaining.

"From the beginning, it was clear that DHS intended to trample on [bargaining] rights," NTEU's Kelley said. "Under any circumstances, and in particular in an agency where the morale has been so low for so long, imposing such a system would have been a serious mistake."

Kelley said the union planned to fight to prevent any other elements of the personnel system from being put in place.

COMMENTS

• Don't break out the champagne yet! ICE is still pushing ahead with eTool, which is really just MaxHR by another name. The General Schedule (GS) pay system was designed to reward good performers with QSIs, as well as cash and time off awards, but management never fully utilized those features to reward high performers. Don't blame the GS system, blame those who failed to use it properly! Also, ICE recently implemented a new Table of Offenses and Penalties, which offers draconian punishments (up to and including removal) for things that in the past were punishable by reprimands or suspensions for first offenses, so watch your step! ICEman Posted February 22, 2008 3:33 PM
• Don't break out the champagne yet! ICE is still pushing ahead with eTool, which is really just MaxHR by another name. The General Schedule (GS) pay system was designed to reward good performers with QSIs, as well as cash and time off awards, but management never fully utilized those features to reward high performers. Don't blame the GS system, blame those who failed to use it properly! Also, ICE recently implemented a new Table of Offenses and Discipline, which offers draconian punishments (up to and including removal) for things that in the past were punishable by reprimands or suspensions for first offenses, so watch your step! ICEman Posted February 22, 2008 3:33 PM
• Navy and ExNavy, thank you very much. Considering our history of immigration (yep! I said the “I” word), I’ve often wondered about that choice of name. While most of us are now (and still) home-grown, born-here Americans; the very essence of what we are comes from hard working foreigners, generous of heart, optimistic of the future, and welcoming of hands ironing out our differences one issue at a time; sometimes with emotional and emphatic consequences. Still we hope we have risen above the pettiness; we still hope to become something of greatness. My economics background tells me no system can tolerate a constant influx of people or the draining of resources to aid others without replenishment; but, for those who care and actually look, we are one of if not THE most generous nation in the world. Yes, many are jealous of our success, but we continue doing what we think is right (and righteous). Even agnostics like me feel the pull of this noblesse oblige. What does that have to do with DHS’s abandonment of this labor relations system; actually quite a bit! This national attitude combines with (I must be realistic) our desire for economic security and comprise the motivation of most of our civilian employees. Yes, since this announcement, many of us feel freer, optimistic, more secure; and can once more turn our attention to our jobs and our missions. I would like to think that most of us can look at this failure as a well-intended experiment; as long as its inherent weaknesses can be seen in time to correct. And, Skeeter, before you knock my optimistic, pie-in-the-sky feelings, if you really knew some of us civilians; well, just ask us. We really do like that satisfied feeling that comes of a job well done; even if it is supporting an ungrateful public like yourself. It’s just been this knife (NSPS) in our back that’s been bothering us lately. Tip off Posted February 21, 2008 12:19 PM