The Pentagon has published final National Security
Personnel System rules, although the rules leave certain
issues to be defined and the implementation schedule is
uncertain due to a legal challenge by a group of Defense
Department employee unions. The final rules, published
in the October 28 Federal Register, generally track the
proposed regs issued earlier this year, although DoD did
move toward the unions in several areas following the
“meet and confer” period in the spring.
According to the DoD schedule, the labor-management
portions are to be effective November 27, following a
period of congressional review. It’s uncertain whether
Congress will act in that period; the most likely vehicle
for making changes would be the annual DoD authorization
bill, which already has passed the House and which is
pending in the Senate with an agreement already in
place on what amendments can be added.
Unions will ask a federal court to hold that the rules
go beyond DoD’s authority, contained in its fiscal 2004
authorization bill, to craft new personnel rules. Of
particular concern to the unions are DoD’s intent to not
bargain on issues it deems “operational,” which unions
contend could cover virtually any topic that traditionally
has been negotiable. They also take issue with the
National Security Labor Relations Board that DoD intends
to establish to take over many of the appellate
responsibilities of the Federal Labor Relations Authority,
and the department’s prerogative under the rules to cancel
provisions of existing contracts that the Pentagon deems
in conflict with the NSPS policy.
Unions made largely the same arguments in successfully
convincing a federal judge to block similar changes
planned by the Department of Homeland Security. While
that order affected only the labor-management provisions,
it had the effect of stalling other portions of the DHS
rules, as well, since union rights are intertwined with
many of those issues.
