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Return to Article: Appeals court allows Pentagon to limit collective bargaining

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  I'm trying to understand my options, if I have any. I applied for WS position because I accepted the responsibilities and understood the duties. As a WS, can I be forced into a GS position without applying for it? I have no union representation but should I consult for representation and whom would best fit that for me?

  Reginald A. Petit Posted November 1, 2007 7:39 AM
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  I just found out that locality pay can also be cut out as well. Since Locality pay was always a given and that was the only way some people working for the US Government could live in some locations i.e. NY metro area. The NSPS with out a doubt has a lot of issues that haven't been reviewed as long range forecast for DoD government employees

  Ivy Posted September 26, 2007 10:19 AM
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  Ironic it's not Bush both the house and the senate voted on the NSPS to steal away our rights. I will submit to NSPS just as soon as the House and Senate are acountable to their constituents and we decide if they deserve a pay raise or not. When we can take 10% of their pay for being average! When we decide who sits on which commitee.

  Mark Lamm Posted June 1, 2007 12:37 PM
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  I recently was informed that a job I would like to have been considered for was going to be vacant in the near future. It is a job I held more than eight years ago when I was in the military. I later heard since the position was NSPS the supervisor was going to reassign an individual into the position without competition. To rub salt into the wound, the person being reassigned into the position is in a FOA reporting to an agency hundreds of miles away.

  So will the best person be picked for the job? The supervisor will never know because he/she only had an eye on a certain incividual. Therein lies the problem in that a lot of individuals will never have a chance for advancement due to the lack of open competition. I agree that the GS system had problems. But to bolster that system would have been cheaper and fairer to the masses of govenerment employees.

  barbara Posted May 29, 2007 4:46 PM
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  Chris,

  Unions destroyed the auto, airline and other industries? You have really bought into that Corporate America nonsense. Say a big lie long enough to yourself and it becomes the truth.

  Maybe these industries are dead because they build things nobody wants to buy (auto), their senior managers award themselves huge salaries which drain the companies of much needed resources (airlines), and we as Americans have decided not to BUY AMERICAN any longer because toys, clothes, and electronics are cheaper when made in China.

  What is evident about the Unions is that without them the Middle class is toast. Don't get me wrong-- Unions have been their own worst enemy and they have not lived up to high standards. But the GREED of Corporate America- of senior level management in these companies and very poor decisions over the past 20 years is what has destroyed these industries-- not the Unions.

  HR Specialist Posted May 22, 2007 1:21 PM
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  The Administration has backed the DOD position on this because all they want is to take the rights of federal employees away. They have over reached in their efforts with what Congress had approved. It should be well noted that the UDWC is going to appeal this ruling and that unions have the support of the House in the recent vote for the Defense appropriations bill 397 to 27, even after a threat of a veto if the bill contained NSPS provisions. It is time that workers get a fair shake in the fight for fair and just treatment!

  W. McGill Posted May 22, 2007 12:42 PM
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  Yes, I must admit, it wasn't long ago that I thought like Chris. I felt that the concept of unions was diametrically opposed to the military concepts I learned as a leader and a follower. I had examples of my father being threatened during a walk-out, his company being put out of business due to union demands, and the inflexibility of the German Army with their union. Then I woke up to the fact the welfare of the workers of America are often not seen as being in the best interest of business, even the government's. In the military, we know that mission is first, but the only way you can accomplish your mission is with the full support of your unit.

  I thought I understood the concepts behind the "buzz" words. Then I began to understand the concept of "buzz" words in general. Pay-for-performance, streamline, and scalability all sound like concepts we should be embracing; but concept and execution are worlds apart. Buzz words are marketing concepts used to get folks to crave what they THINK they need; nothing more. All my education and experience didn't show me as graphic an example of the battle between a bottom-line management dictates and the survival-level fight for the civil rights of workers as has the Sword of Damocles that is the NSPS.

  I worry not that the truth will out; I worry only on whether we will survive until management awakens, yet again, to the need for a stable, content, impartial, and dedicated civil service population. The only hope I can hold on to is that word seemingly lost in among all the other verbiage in the article, "temporary". Unfortunately, my tenure in governmental service has convinced me that temporary can be a LONG time. Fads in commerce are short lived, not so for governmental policies. Lack of planning and consideration for catastrophic results often take years, lives, and billions of dollars to be repealed.

  For those supporters of NSPS, please realize that you may be one of the "chosen" who benefit from its implementation, but your section as a whole will not. I ask you to look around for a barometer that you feel is valid and truly, dispassionately, evaluate the NSPS impact. It will be both disparate and desperate between the haves and have-nots.

  Such does not enhance our security.

  Tip off Posted May 22, 2007 12:33 PM
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  NSPS will not only hurt slackers, if that was the case many people would be for it. In fact many in the Gov would love to see deadwood gone. The issue is the budgeting of raises/bonus money. What incentive is there to become a Supervisor with the Gov for a 5% raise. That would be a no-brainer. So attracting the best and the brightest will be a problem. It kills incentive. Many intelligent/hardworking workers will leave. It's happening now at other agencies. It will actually work this way, the lazy folks will retire. Then the smart ones will leave. This will actually cause more problems. We can't take stupid people and stick them in jobs that they cannot do when the good people leave. Then they will fail, and whatever reputation the Gov had (good/bad) as a workplace will just become very poor on all socio-economic levels. All the young folks I talk to now are planning on moving on. We need pay for performance badly, just being badly payed for performance.

  Mike Posted May 22, 2007 11:50 AM
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  I really regret to see government employees' union rights taken away. It took about 50 years to get where we are today with a system that allows employees an avenue to grieve unfair treatment. I feel that we are taking a giant step backward by taking away collective bargaining and an employee's right to union representation. I think we should do what we can to fight terrorism but what does that have to do with American employee rights? I am very blessed to live in a free country and want to keep it that way. Taking away any of my employee rights seems to me like taking away some of my freedom. I don't believe for one minute that the NSPS will be fair and impartial. It is just giving more power to those in authority to show favoritism without any recourse for the employees involved. I am sure the so-called inpartial panels will discuss who they want to be promoted based on favoritism, not on performance. Managers will jockey to get on the appropriate panel so they can get their friends promoted instead of recusing themselves. NSPS can't change human nature, can't make people honest and won't make anything better. Unchecked power is a very dangerous thing. Didn't we learn anything from Iraq's dictatorship?

  Rachel Posted May 22, 2007 11:07 AM
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  I hope the previous poster is a Gov employee and finds themselves in a disagreement with management --regardless of how wrong they may be-- then they will see how fast THEY become branded "deadwood" or a "slacker". This being sold as "to recruit and retain" is about as plausible as the Attorney General firings being "performance related". The government should set the standard for fair employment practices, not the standard for nepotistic, cronyism. I just hope the next administration can undue the harm this one has done to this country

  MS Posted May 22, 2007 9:41 AM
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  Unions? Not good for anything. They went out of favor 25 years ago. They have ruined the auto, airline industires and now hope to do the same for local, state, and federal government. NSPS should be implemeted governement wide. Time to get the dead wood out of Gov't and force them to retire before they do any more damage. The only people NSPS will hurt are slackers!

  Chris Posted May 22, 2007 8:19 AM
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  My car is working just fine now that i am keeping the CONTRACTORS out of it. But because it is working so well i believe i need to make some MAJOR CHANGES so i will have more FLEXABILITY. Flexibility to repair whatever is not broken. Flexibility to repair whatever is working well. Flexibility to cover up my inability manage the well being and good condition of my car by puting it in the hands of someone else whom does not have my best interests at heart.

  phillip plumlee Posted May 21, 2007 2:00 PM
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  Yada Yada Yada. Really now, who would have thought otherwise. Glad I'm one of those baby boomers that will ride the wave out in FY08. Not hanging around until I'm 62 1/2, the age OPM says most retire. I'm leaving at 55 and taking my 32 years of service and experience with me. Otherwise, they may take away CSRS.

  PD Posted May 21, 2007 11:48 AM
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  The failure of the government in the terror attacks was a result of no cummunication between some govenment agencies (CIA, FBI, Poilce ect...) I do not see how going after all the collective bargaining rights will solve that issue. Create a hotline or a subagency to pull the pieces of information together. I agree with some of the posters who see this as a ploy to take away the rights of a significant group of working American citizens.

  Jamie Posted May 21, 2007 11:44 AM
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  You want to take my son, place him in a war that will never end, have him come back minus one leg and then tell him freedom and democracy and the rights of all are bologna, per our government voice.

  Benita Owens Posted May 21, 2007 10:49 AM
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  It isn't ironic at all unless you really believe that this war is about freedom and democracy. I think that the president's efforts to curb civil liberties and the rights of citizens (whether his own or someone else's) has been an on-going theme of his term and this curtailment of union-member's rights is just the latest and shows the administration is staying right on message. That the American public hasn't gotten the message as well as the rest of the world seems to have is surprising...

  Pete Posted May 21, 2007 9:33 AM
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  "Bob" has it right - this administration is out to create a two-class society in the U.S., the rich and the rest. If you are not rich, look out.

  Paul Posted May 21, 2007 5:55 AM
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  This doesn't only affect Federal employees. The only way members of our working class are going to have any rights is through collective bargaining. Employers and the government are not going to listen to lone individuals on matters such as fair pay, benefits, health care, etc. That is why the public at large needs to stand behind the fight of the public-sector unions who are trying to defend a decent standard of living for us all.

  Robin Johnson Posted May 21, 2007 5:37 AM
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  The irony goes even deeper. These are the people and the systems (General Schedule, Wage Grade and others) that were not long ago "Praised" for winning the Cold War. So, we are persuaded that those systems are no longer good enough and that we need a "New" system. Accordingly, this new system (NSPS) is suppose to be for the "New" Wars of the 21st Century. Now, we are at War, bogged down and the life being sucked out of by Old Wars (Insergency and Civil War).

  Will Posted May 18, 2007 9:08 PM
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  Ironic? It is sad, just throw this on top of amnesty and you see the full effort of Uncle George to destroy this country from the inside out.

  Border Patrol Agent Posted May 18, 2007 7:25 PM
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  Isn't it ironic that the same government that sends our kids to war to fight for "freedom and democracy" fights to remove those same rights from its own employees?

  Bob Posted May 18, 2007 5:33 PM