In the 2006 budget the Bush administration has announced
it will be pushing to reform personnel systems across
government to resemble new systems at the Departments of
Homeland Security and Defense, which limit collective
bargaining and give managers the authority to set employee
compensation based on performance evaluations.
The budget said the two departments need broad personnel
flexibilities to “anticipate and respond quickly to the
changing national needs, and argues those flexibilities
should be extended “to all agencies so that they can make
the greatest use of their personnel to achieve their own
important missions.”
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking
Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., responded to administration
plans to model the personnel systems of other agencies on
DHS and DoD by saying, “we should at least wait and see if
it works,” adding, “the extraordinary flexibility to waive
civil service protections” were granted to DoD and DHS
because of their “unique security mission.”
The Government Accountability Office issued preliminary
observations on the DHS personnel rules – GAO-05-320T –
saying while they are largely consistent with proven
approaches to strategic human capital management, DHS
has considerable work to do to define and understand the
details of implementing the system, central to overall
understanding.
It said DHS looks committed to continued employee and union
involvement throughout the implementation, and that
sustained leadership commitment is needed to sustain the
quality of that involvement.
In testimony before the Homeland and Governmental Affairs
committee, National Treasury Employees Union president
Colleen Kelley objected to the DHS rules saying they
“create an environment of mistrust and uncertainty,”
calling them “unlawful” for not meeting certain
collective bargaining and appeal provisions, and said
the pay for performance program gives the secretary
“unfettered discretion to create a list of mandatory
removal offenses,” that could only be appealed to an
internal board.