TOPICS
TOPICS
Unions rally against personnel changes as Pentagon issues new details
Unions representing both federal and nonfederal employees joined in a rally Thursday to protest limits on collective bargaining in the federal government.
On the steps of the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, hundreds of union members gathered in what they described as a rally for the human right to union representation, giving special notice to federal employees.
"Bush has turned the government into America's No. 1 union buster," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson said.
Chavez-Thompson was referring to personnel reforms under way in the Homeland Security and Defense departments that, in addition to replacing the General Schedule with a performance- and market-based pay system, are designed to limit union influence. Administration officials argue the limitations provide them with the necessary flexibility to defend the country against terrorist attacks.
On Wednesday, the department released new details on the performance evaluation aspect of the planned system.
The union rally featured two speakers from the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union and an AFL-CIO affiliate.
"The bottom line is that union federal employees have dutifully and successfully protected this country for decades," AFGE member and Defense Department employee Keith Hill said. "Union members are not the enemy."
AFGE president John Gage told the crowd that curtailments of federal workers' union rights will pave the way to limitations outside the government.
"We know that if it happens to us, state and local governments will be next," Gage said, followed by the private sector, including transportation and communications workers.
While the event was notable for its attention to federal employees, it was just one of dozens worldwide coordinated by the AFL-CIO to mark the anniversary of the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration includes the right to join and form unions.
The Air Line Pilots Association, American Federation of Teachers and Communication Workers of America were some of the unions present at the event.
But even as labor organizations do their best to halt the personnel reforms at Defense and Homeland Security, including filing lawsuits, the Pentagon is forging ahead.
The Defense Department released a new 25-page handbook on the National Security Personnel System Wednesday on its Web site. The handbook addresses the human resources elements of the new system and does not discuss collective bargaining. Its contents are still subject to union consultation.
"The purpose of this primer is to provide you with an understanding of what is proposed in the human resources portion of NSPS," the Web site stated.
The primer clarifies that the performance "shares" employees will earn based on how they are rated in relation to their peers can be paid out in the form of either a permanent raise or in a one-time bonus, at the discretion of supervisors.
The Defense Department recommends that supervisors use bonuses for employees who are paid at the top of the market range for their type of job. Bonuses also could be awarded for good work that is considered a one-time achievement, the handbook says.
Supervisors should recognize, however, "that bonuses do not contribute to employee retirement benefits or Thrift Savings accounts," the guidelines state. "Inappropriate overuse of the bonus could result in morale, recruitment and retention problems."
The handbook also outlines the five steps required for performance-based raises: plan, monitor, develop, rate and reward. The outline calls for objectives to be set from the start, ongoing feedback and reviews, continuing training and development, clear evaluations, and finally, rewards based on good performance. Each year, this process will run from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
According to the primer, pay pools from which the raises will be divided up will have between 50 and 300 employees. The pools could be created based on job function, location, mission or organizational structure.
COMMENTS
- The only time I am FLSA exempt is when I am in a war zone receiving enemy fire. Civil servants are the only workers who do not receive any tax break or get full overtime (exempt) in a war zone. I have seen more combat as a civilian than "W" did when he was defending the bars state side dodging the Vietnam War. The GOP is not a friend of the civil service or the soldier. So far they offered to do away with fair labor standards act, huge tax breaks for the very wealthy 0.01 percent and NSPS. We are just preaching to the choir here. All of you know to do!! Write letters to the editor in your local papers. Tell any of your reps that don’t oppose NSPS to look for another job next election. The OPM White Paper states that the government does want a loyal work force: that’s so they don’t have to pay retirement and so they can contract everything out (kick backs).The following is from the OPM. Employee expectations; Employees of the 1940s and 1950s shared the experiences of economic depression and war. They sought stability and security. The Federal compensation system, with its career ladders (where employees start their careers in positions at low grades with the prospect of advancement over time to higher-grade positions), time-based pay increases, and benefits keyed to length of service, reflects a conception of employment predicated on a 30-year career with the same employer. That model is designed to reward loyalty by providing stable and secure employment, reflecting and meeting those needs. "But increasingly employees neither expect nor seek that form of security from their employer." I kinda like job security and a future. Do we need a major depression to realize that? The ones who will suffer the most are the war fighters when an unstable workforce is tasked to support them. We have a big job ahead of us. Let’s get to work!!! OIF Civialln Veteran Posted January 12, 2006 5:52 AM
- To "Tired Government Employee:" You sound like you are in a management position. How long does it take before these dozens or hundreds to realize that they are working for a condescending person and decide to move on and get treated like a human? I find it hard to believe that many highly qualified people are unemployed and that desperate. GovExec.com reader Posted December 26, 2005 7:39 AM
- I have always considered myself part of management and have never belonged or supported a government union. However, I am grateful for their efforts in correcting two pay injustices that I have suffered in the past. First, I was initially hired in 1983 as a GS-11 engineer at a step 6 under the special salary program. (Apparently step 1 pay was too low to compete with private industry for private sector engineers at the time.) In 1984 I did not receive an annual cost of living pay raise. When I questioned HRO, I was told that under OPM direction that since I was hired as a step 6, even though all other military and civil service employees received annual pay raises, I was considered "over paid" at the step 6 level and therefore not entitled to any future annual pay raises so long as I remained in my current GS-11 position! I believe that there were some employees who were caught in this vice for over a decade. Secondly, four years later while in an overseas posting, the pay office under the direction of a navy Commander decided that civilian employees should pay social security and Medicaid taxes on our housing allowance. The pay office then unilaterally imposed these withholdings on all Army and Navy European civil service employees. Federal unions took OPM to court on these issues and eventually received favorable court rulings. As a result of union action, I received respective retroactive pay adjustments 15 and 20 years later. With union power projected to be effectively dismantled under NSPS, I am curious to know who in the future will protect civil service employees against future blatantly unjust discriminatory personal pay policies, such as the ones that I have previously experienced. GovExec.com reader Posted December 15, 2005 12:26 AM
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