Congress blocks funding for Pentagon labor system

Lawmakers struck a compromise this week on the Pentagon's new personnel system, blocking fiscal 2007 funding for labor relations aspects but preserving it for the performance management portion.

Members of the House and Senate reached consensus over funding for the National Security Personnel System in a conference report for the fiscal 2007 Defense Department appropriations bill filed Monday. The full House passed the language Tuesday and the Senate is expected to do so Wednesday.

Also included in the conference report was a 2.2 percent pay hike for members of the military. Traditionally, lawmakers have granted raises in excess of the president's civilian pay proposal to match a higher military rate.

But this year, the president proposed a 2.2 percent pay raise for both groups. Congress at first moved to increase the military raise to 2.7 percent in the Defense authorization bill, and followed suit with the civilian raise in the Transportation-Treasury spending bill. But lawmakers settled on the initial military raise proposal in the Defense appropriations conference report.

Civilian federal employee union lobbyists were put in the unusual position of lobbying for a higher military pay raise, but were not successful. Lawmakers who usually fight for higher civilian pay raises do so under the banner of pay parity between civilians and the military.

In NSPS language, lawmakers said no money could be spent on changes to labor-management relations, adverse actions or appeals rules in governmentwide law. Congress initially gave the Pentagon legal authority to make sweeping changes to its personnel system in 2003, but a court ruled the labor relations changes illegal in February. That case is under appeal.

Under a House amendment passed in late June, Defense would not have been allowed to spend funds on changing performance appraisal systems for employees, either. That restriction did not make it into the conference report, however. The Senate had not included any language to block funding for NSPS in its version of the bill.

Union leaders -- who brought the court case against the Pentagon's labor relations system, charging that the department's proposed ability to severely limit the scope of what can be subject to bargaining, and nullify collective bargaining agreements, went too far -- cheered the appropriations bill language.

"This victory demonstrates that the workers have finally communicated their message clearly to Congress," said Richard Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.

But negotiators also added a clause that said the Pentagon could use funds for the labor relations system if it prevails on appeal, something that did not exist in the House version.

The Pentagon downplayed the compromise language on NSPS as inconsequential.

"The language wasn't necessary," NSPS spokeswoman Joyce Frank said. "The department is already complying with the injunction by the U.S. District Court and is not spending money on implementing the labor relations, adverse actions or appeals portions of NSPS."

If nothing else, union leaders see the language as a symbolic warning.

"This is reflective of key lawmakers' growing frustration that management's unilateral creation of NSPS has been one fiasco after another," said Gregory Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. "We remain hopeful that this will serve as another step in our bringing fairness to DoD's workforce, as well as transparency to the wasted resources being used to support NSPS."

The legislative move comes the same week the Justice Department declined to continue fighting a similar case over the Homeland Security Department's labor relations system. DHS will now have to rewrite its labor proposal.