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Return to Article: Congress blocks funding for Pentagon labor system

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  Stop complaining. Civil servants wine and wine about their rights. News flash, you have more benefits than any company will ever offer and you get paid more!!! For what? Maybe you need to lose your job to understand just how well you have it. After all, doesn't the taxpayer deserve the right to know you are EARNING your money. What a concept!! You mean you have to work for a living--get a clue and join the rest of the world and EARN your money.

  Stop complaining Posted October 22, 2007 9:48 PM
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  So the Defense Department can go ahead and implement pay for performance, but not labor relations. Am I missing something here? Isn't that basically what they want to do -- not allow any due process for their perverted system? It seems to me that if this waste of taxpayers' money is going to continue, that there should be something to protect the civil slaves. But alas, it doesn't appear so.

  Civil Slave Posted September 28, 2006 8:37 AM
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  NSPS is a joke! NSPS provides no change in the evaluation process! NSPS requires a performance plan annually with a mid-year review and a final evaluation. That is no different than the existing system. NSPS substitutes pay bands for GS grades and pay schedules for steps. What NSPS does do is remove automatic step increases and cost of living adjustments.

  The only new flexibility offered is that poor performers will not participate in any cost of living increase or automatic step increase. The inconsistent nature of personnel evaluations is supposed to be overcome by a pay board that will second guess the supervisors' ratings. Interesting because the military supervisors will be on the pay board evaluating their buddies and how they rated civilians. Now the military has total control of pay but cola and step are automatic, but with NSPS the military still has total control of the civilian pay but now can stop the cola and step increases. No one seems to know what they can do with locality adjustments or what happens when a group of employees are paid out of different appropriations. Today we are told that there is no significant money in the bonus pool, but we are not even covered by that appropriation anyway, and money from our appropriation could be used to pay our bonuses. This gives you some idea of the fact that the military has no idea what it is doing or how it is doing it!

  If the existing system does not work, why does everyone seem to think that the NSPS system will work? It basically is the same old system with new words. The only significant change is that civilian employees in the Defense and Homeland Security departments have no recourse at all under NSPS. Congress should stop this system in its tracks and retain the civil service protections now in place.

  If the goal is to attract new people, you will find that the NSPS will do two things. First, it will drive those who can to retire, and second, it will stop new people from entering or staying if they do enter the Defense Department or DHS. However, in Defense they always will have a flow from the retiring military personnel that will foster a staff that gives the military total control. This is a very dangerous step in a democracy!

  Taxpayer Posted September 28, 2006 6:48 AM