The International Federation of Professional Technical
Engineers, representing workers at five NASA locations,
has said that the agency’s workforce management proposal
threatens its technical excellence and independence.
The union balked at the agency’s reliance on full-cost
accounting, term employees, and its proposed competency
management system, calling it “flawed and incomplete.”
Those factors are downsizing NASA’s independent technical
civil service staff, leading to a “job-shop mentality,”
and turning away top scientists, engineers and support
staff, the union said.
It said that the agency’s reliance on term employees is
a misuse of flexibilities granted under the 2004 NASA
Flexibility Act, because it’s creating a “revolving door
practice,” rather than leading to better recruitment of
career employees.
The union termed “ludicrous” the idea that NASA “needs to
RIF — or even to threaten to RIF — its technical employees
while it ratchets up its technical needs.”
