The House has passed a fiscal 2007 defense-spending bill that contains an amendment preventing agencies from using appropriated funds to implement aspects of the Department of Defense’s new National Security Personnel System dealing with adverse actions and appeals, labor-management relations, and collective bargaining.
A federal judge ruled in February that DoD overstepped the authority granted to it by Congress in creating the new system because under the rules, any labor-relations agreement reached with unions could be nullified at management’s discretion.
The amendment passed by voice vote. It was sponsored by Reps. Jay Inslee, D-WA, Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Walter Jones, R-NC.
A DoD workers coalition praised the vote, but Raon Ault, president of the AFL-CIO metal trades department vowed that the union would continue working to include the language in the conference report.