A group of congressmen, 75 in total, have signed a letter
to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge,
asking him to withdraw DHS personnel regulations proposed
along with the Office of Personnel Management.
“The proposed changes severely alter some of the most basic
employee rights for pay, labor relations, and due process
for the 180,000 [DHS] employees,” said the letter.
It included language from the Homeland Security Act,
stating that any human resource management system must
“ensure that employees may organize, bargain collectively,
and participate through labor organizations of their own
choosing in decisions which affect them,” and stated that
the proposed regulations would strip employees of such
rights.
The letter closes by urging Secretary Ridge to propose new
regulations that uphold what it calls the basic rights
of homeland security employees.
