Speaking at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on the
Federal Workforce and Agency Organization where the GAO
report was released, president of the American Federation
of Government Employees, John Gage, urged Congress to reject
the proposed regulations in order to avert a “disaster”
that would have “enormous financial and national security
ramifications.”
The union objects to the proposed regulations for rendering
previously negotiated collective bargaining issues “off the
table,” and Gage argues that the proposed system would give
DoD “the authority to unilaterally void any and all provisions
of collective bargaining agreements,” a concern shared by
the ten unions that filed suit against DoD.
While the actual details of the proposed regulations will not
become available until after the meet and confer process,
Gage laid out six flashpoint issues in his testimony that
reflect some of the same concerns stated in the GAO report.
For example, he called for “the creation of objective
standards for performance appraisals” and the right for
“arbitration appeals before neutral third parties.”
Other issues he argues are called for under the legislation
authorizing the new personnel system – and that sum up many
contentious issues in the debate surrounding it – include
“strong and unambiguous safeguards to prevent a lowering of
pay,” restoring “the scope of collective bargaining,”
allowing “labor-management disputes to be settled by a
board independent of DoD management,” restoring earlier
standards for mitigating disciplinary penalties before the
Merit Systems Protection Board, and limiting the use of
performance reviews to determine who goes during a reduction
in force.
