Ten unions have filed a suit in federal court against
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and acting director of
the Office of Personnel Management, Dan Blair, for
circumventing “the will of Congress in the design process”
of the proposed new defense personnel system, the American
Federation of Government Employees has announced.
The congressional will in question is – section 9902 m
– of the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2004.
Unions say the legislation calls for their active
engagement in the creation of the NSPS, but argue they
were only permitted to take part in topical discussion and
barred from ironing out crucial details on collective
bargaining and due process rights protecting employees
that speak out about wronging or mismanagement.
“In the 10 meetings we had with DoD officials, we were
never permitted to go beyond the superficial,” said AFGE
president John Gage.
The suit is the latest union effort to keep the design
process alive. As it stands, the new system puts
significantly more authority in the hands of managers
to implement transfers and change shifts, rate employee
performance to determine pay and potentially whether
they stay or go during a reduction-in-force.
