NSPS Update of meeting at Hilton Crystal City(Read the Statement of the United DOD Workers Coalition, UDWC to NSPS for Coalition Input). August 26, 2004 Dear Brothers and Sisters: Ron Ault, President August 3, 2004 You Can't Make Chicken Salad Out of Chicken ManureWhen I was a stubborn, determined, hard-headed teenager, trying do do something I didn't the skills or tools or parts to do, my daddy would tell me you can't make chicken salad out of chicken manure. What he was telling me was that I needed the basic ingredients before I could be successful. This week's Government Executive newsletter features an article entitled: "Better Management, Naturally," in which the author advises DOD that the creation of an entirely new personnel system (NSPS) won't cure DOD's personnel problems. "Pay for Performance" doesn't work--never has, never will. It is a myth, relying on the false premise that a manager will be fair, objective and enforce the rules even-handedly without regard to personalities. It might work in a perfect world, but none of us live or work in a perfect world. Personalities rule in the real world. Likes and dislikes, prejudices, opinions based on emotions, and personality conflicts. That's what the real workplace looks like. It's like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. There are some first-class jerks out there. Some are workers and some are managers; we all know some of them and have to deal with them every day. You don't have to like someone to work with them. No matter what you give DOD in the way of a personnel system, you will still have the same problem: the failure of management to manage. The present federal personnel system has a few flaws in it, admittedly. But, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You tweak and fix the problems. I don't go out and buy a new car when mine needs a tune-up or an oil change. DOD is discarding a perfectly good personnel system and spending hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to develop a new one that is unproven, robs workers of their basic rights to fair treatment and eliminates any voice workers have in the workplace--all to try to overcome poor management. The problem isn't the workers or the personnel system! Before you can fix any problem you must recognize and acknowledge the problem. As usual, DOD has jumped to a conclusion and is ow looking for a set of facts to support the conclusion. The problem always has been the DOD/OPM management system and those shortcomings can't be fixed by focusing just on the workers. When I conduct union representative training I always caution our reps: "be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. DOD might want to consider that advice. Mark my words, under any personnel
system, even one where they personally hand write and can change
it at a moments notice on any whim, DOD can't manage fairly and
honestly unless they do something about the shortcomings of their
management system. The "FBIs" (friends, brothers and
in-laws) will get it all and the rank and file workers will end
up getting the dirty end of the stick. Dear Brothers and Sisters: Recently I have been criticized by Administration Officials, Members of Congress and members of the news media for my plain spoken language and bluntness in our website postings on NSPS on METALTRADES.ORG. Their criticism is that I am unnecessarily confrontational, use inflammatory terms that aren't helpful to the process and am an “obstructionist.” Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As long as management is trying to take away your rights, I believe you want me to fight these un-American “take away’s.” And I intend to use every tool at my disposal, including public exposure of false and misleading statements by those who are taking away the workplace rights, fairness and due process of American workers. It seems that anyone who openly opposes the policies of this administration is targeted for a publicity campaign of being discredited….looks like it is my turn in the barrel. If there was a fair “process” in implementing either DHS’ or DOD’s National Security Personnel System that gave any real, meaningful input to the workers, I’d be leading the parade. That isn't the case with either the DHS or the DOD. Nothing we do is being given any real consideration. The management teams are simply going through the motions, meeting the minimum regulatory standard of meeting with your representatives, so they can tell Congress they allowed and considered your input-it just didn't get in any of the personnel regulations. In DHS, there were 3500 public comments, mostly negative, but look at the proposed NSPS regs published in the Federal Register….nothing but how wonderful the emperor looks in his new clothes…We are totally frozen out of the process. Neither DHS nor DOD has given a single instance of justification supporting their claim of national security interests where the present employee personnel system has impeded or delayed anything to do with National Security. They won't discuss any specifics nor give us their proposed changes in personnel regulations…they just want us to give them our “input” in a vacuum without providing us answers to what is wrong with what we presently have or what they think it needs to fix any problems they perceive. So, I don't believe there is a way to be fair when you set out to steal fairness, dignity and workers rights under the smokescreen of “national security.” As the old saying goes…Oh, the tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive…. In my humble opinion, all this is going to end up being decided in federal courts, so as I see it we gain nothing by being led quietly to slaughter, talking nice, and being polite. Those of you who know me personally know I don't call lizards alligators. This is my definition of a lie- Someone who deliberately distorts the facts and tries to mislead you to gain an advantage. Do you agree? How about someone who knowingly conceals facts they know from you and misleads you into a faulty conclusion? Is that a lie? I think so, but you be the judge. Your opinion is the one that I care about and will listen to. I was elected to be your President and to speak out at this level for you. I'm neither timid nor hesitant to speak plainly and clearly in your behalf. If fighting for your rights is viewed as an obstructionist, then I accept that title. I try my best to be as professional as possible in my dealings with all our Employers. I've always used the “golden rule” in dealing with our counter parts across the table, but if…. you kick my dog, I kick your cat…. In Solidarity, U.S. SENATOR VISITS BREMERTON—Murray, unions slam personnel system
A small crowd of Kitsap County defense workers gathered outside Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Tuesday morning to protest a proposed personnel system backed by the Pentagon. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, speaking to the group, blasted the Bush administration and the Defense Department for trying to take away the workers' basic collective bargaining rights. "They're telling defense workers, if you want to do defense work, you'll have to surrender your rights," she said. "That will make it harder to recruit and retain the top-notch work force that we rely on." The Defense Department is negotiating with national defense unions on a compromise with its National Security Personnel System, or NSPS. Two more sessions are scheduled next month. Labor unions have continued to
rally against the proposal. Tuesday marked the fourth Bremerton
rally in the past year. The Defense Department wants more flexibility in hiring and firing, and wants to be able to implement changes more quickly, without lengthy bargaining, officials say. The Pentagon is proposing to bargain "only where change has significant impact" on employees. And, it wants a majority of bargaining done at the national rather than the local level. The Navy has been given the lead in implementing NSPS. The positive aspect for unions, they say, is the once-proposed full-out implementation of the system later this year was curtailed to a much slower, phased-in system. Navy Secretary Gordon England said it will be phased in through 2006, with the first group of workers being placed in a six-month pilot system. By the beginning of 2007, more than 300,000 workers will be included in the system. "It's been put on hold and I would say that's a major victory for the unions," said Mike Goddard, a local representative from the International Association of Machinists. In June, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee,
D-Bainbridge, introduced an amendment that would've delayed NSPS,
but it was defeated. Murray, who's running for a third Senate term, admitted the best chance for change might be a new resident in the White House. Until then, she said she'll push hard for congressional hearings. "I think it's really important that Congress understands what is happening to our defense workers across the nation," she said. "I'm seeing the morale decline and I'm seeing people being fearful about their jobs. And we can't have the people who are protecting us concerned about their own security rights now." Reach reporter Chris Barron at (360) 792-9228 or at cbarron@thesunlink.com. July 12, 2004— Union Delegation Thwarts DOD NSPS 'Love-inDOD
planned a staged "love-in" to kick off their internal
campaign to sell the National Security Personnel System to DOD
union-represented workers. The Pentagon was not prepared for a
union visit to this event, and found it rather awkward when a
half dozen union reps, including Metal Trades Department President
Ron Ault. It's a long video, but worth the time if you enjoy watching
Pentagon personnel types dissemble and stumble on union questions. The
Pentagon has since taken the video down. Ron
Ault's summary of the session. June 22, 2003 PROTECTING WASHINGTON STATE CIVILIAN DEFENSE WORKERWashington,
D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) announced that he intends
to offer an amendment tomorrow to a defense appropriations bill
to prevent the Department of Defense (DOD) from weakening civilian
defense personnel protections. The DOD's controversial
changes to civilian military worker regulations, part of the
National Security Personnel System (NSPS), would degrade collective
bargaining and other long-standing protections. Inslee's
proposed amendment to the DOD appropriations bill for FY2005
will target the most disconcerting personnel reforms by protecting
collective bargaining, rights of appeal, and due process for
civilian defense employees. June 17, 2004 DOD Long Term Leasing of ShipsDear
Brothers and Sisters: I want to inform you of an especially
disturbing problem and a matter of concern to our Nation's security
by this administration...DOD has been able to circumvent the
intent of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 and OMB Circular
A-11 that states that vessels and other capital assets leased
for a period of five years or longer would have to be scored
in the budget year in which the contract was entered into, and
the budget request in that year would have to include authorization
for the total multiyear lease contract. This scoring rule eliminated
the budget benefits of leasing versus buying capital assets.
To further deter leasing and discipline out-year funding obligations,
in the 1980s Congress passed restrictions in Defense Appropriations
Bills limiting ship and other capital leases to not more than
18 months in duration. The Budget Enforcement Act and Appropriations
Acts were designed to give DOD short-term lease authority to
meet short-term transportation or special purpose requirements
in peacetime or in times of mobilization. May 14, 2004 OPM's 'Dear Rummy' Letter You Were Not Supposed to SeeDocuments
reveal OPM chastizes Rumsfeld for holes in NSPS--Including (BODY COPY): Unfortunately, OPM's concerns are not intended fixt NSPS to better protect individual workers, but to offer Rumsfeld better ways to screw the workforce while observing the letter of the law, if not the spirit. May 6, 2004 Iraq Prison Scandal Underscores Dangers of Over-Reliance on ContractorsFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Prisoner abuses by federal contractors in Iraq recently disclosed by the news media are a symptom of a glaring over-reliance on private contract personnel by the Department of Defense, a situation which will only get worse if DOD is permitted to implement its proposed National Security Personnel System on more than 700,000 civilian DOD personnel, Metal Trades Department President Ronald Ault has charged. “This is an egregious example of why the National Security Personnel System needs to be stopped and DOD needs to go back to the drawing board to develop an effective plan to invest in rebuilding an accountable and a responsible federal civilian workforce that can effectively supervise contractors.” He said NSPS will have the effect of changing all covered workers into “employees at will” with virtually no protection if they stand up and speak out as whistleblowers. Ault pointed out that the GAO warned Congress a year ago that DOD was not paying enough attention to safeguards and institutional problems that must be in place within the Department of Defense before NSPS can be implemented. In congressional testimony a year ago, Comptroller General David A. Walker warned that Congress should require that “appropriate performance management systems and safeguards are in place before the new authorities are implemented.” However, DOD has been pressing unions representing civilian workers to buy into the NSPS system that makes no mention of performance management systems or safeguards. “Once again, DOD has put the cart before the horse, trying to impose this new system without first changing its management structure to ensure accountability and transparency,” Ault said. Ault said “NSPS will only encourage wider use of contractors in many inheritantly governmental functions which, in turn will lead to more catastrophes like Ghraib.” Last November, Congress granted enormous authority to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the Defense Appropriations Act of 2003. Ault said that a wave of DOD blunders related to the war on terror and military action in Iraq and Afghanistan prove conclusively that Rumsfeld can’t be entrusted with that kind of authority. In the last decade, DOD has downsized its civilian personnel rolls by nearly 40 percent and expects to cut another 55,000 workers over the next ten years. Some 58 percent of its civilian workforce is approaching retirement age. “DOD needs to act to protect its institutional memory and replace the human capitol it is losing. Instead, they are simply selling off entire operations to for-profit contractors. The results will be more scandals like Ghraib and more of the worst government money can buy,” Ault said. NSPS UpdateApril 15, 2004-- It appears that Monday, April
19, 2004, Navy Secretary England will meet with the majority of
the largest DOD labor organizations to announce to us that the
DOD intends to postpone the implementation of NSPS for a year. An open letter to our
members and bargaining unit employees:
We have a lot at stake in the November election. Are you concerned at the direction our country is headed? Do you think our national priorities are in order? Are you worried about our economic future and your job security? I am and I’m concerned that my generation is the last one that can expect to have it “better” than our parents. I am concerned that my children will not be able to retire and live a decent life. Our children will have to pay the credit card bills
that we are running up today. The trillions of dollars foreign
debt built up by years of a lopsided trade deficit is a looming
disaster of apocalyptic proportions. When is that “other”
shoe going to drop? “Free Traitors” see nothing wrong with
“outsourcing” your job overseas. They point to lower
prices for the goods, better “bottom lines” for companies,
more return on investment…all good things for the “economy.” Our largest trading partner is Communist China. And China is benefiting militarily by the technology transfers of “free trade.” Is the U.S. truly the only real world power? In the U.S. we are seeing any pretense of “compassionate conservatism” evaporate under the practice of intense right wing conservatism in our government. Workers are losing ground on all fronts. Every progressive gain workers have achieved is being stripped and given back to big business in the guise of “flexibility” and to be competitive in the world market place. In other words, your standard of living is being systematically reduced to match those of foreign nations we trade with. Eight million workers are in danger of losing overtime pay after working forty hours in a week under this administration’s agenda for corporate greed. Not paying overtime will definitely lower the cost of doing business and make US companies more competitive with foreign companies…So would repealing the minimum wage, workers’ compensation, safety and health laws, environmental laws (oh, forgot, they’ve already stopped enforcing those), EEOC laws, child labor laws, Buy America Act for Department of Defense purchases….and the list could go on and on. But, you get the point. According to an article published Sunday, April 4, 2004, in Parade Magazine, more than 13 million American children go to bed hungry every night. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, requests for emergency food for families with children will increase in 91 percent US nation’s cities this year. More than 2.8 million manufacturing jobs are gone; most forever…All this in the name of being globally competitive? This is the systematic destruction of the middle class of America. I am concerned that the basic freedoms we have enjoyed in our lifetime will not be there for our children. This past year we saw the passage of a law that effectively strips three quarters of a million workers of the basic right of collective bargaining with their employer over working conditions in the guise of national security. This law was a “rider” to the Defense Authorization Bill. The right wing radicals behind this legislation
take a “Mother Theresa” law like the Defense Authorization
Bill and slip “Jeffery Dahmer” attachments like the
so called “National Security Personnel System” under
her skirt. Then they dare anyone to vote against “funding”
our troops. The tragic thing about all this is that the blueprint for the NSPS was written and published in a Heritage Foundation paper authored by George Nesterczuk on September 10, 2001, some nine months before the World Trade Center attack. I served four years in our military and our nation’s security is my number one priority. In my job, I get to see our shipbuilding, atomic programs, research and development projects, defense plants, and petrochemical, heavy manufacturing, and private industry as a whole. I can tell you every aspect of our national defense is woefully under funded. Our Navy is at an all time low in ship procurement. It takes up to ten years to produce a ship for the fleet. This administration has placed no priority on giving our Navy the ships they need and this year they cut 120 million dollars out of last year’s ship building budget. The story is the same for every branch of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines…less money, fewer weapons programs, fewer spare parts, fewer supplies…all at a time when we are in a declared war and we have our sons and daughters serving in harms way. Misplaced priorities? You bet. When Rumsfeld testified before Congress in favor of the NSPS, he bemoaned the fact that the Pentagon needed a means to go after employees who he said are misusing their government-issued credit cards. He’s never made any statement that I’m aware of about the documented cases of millions of dollars worth of fraud and abuse by Halliburton or other DOD contractors. Misplaced priorities? You bet. Yet, Bush and Rumsfeld are willing to spend $3 billion (their own numbers) on their NSPS at a time when we’re told they can’t afford to supply all the troops in Iraq with body armor. Misplaced priorities? You bet. Furthermore, at a time when we’re told there’s no money available for a first class Navy; and abiding by “Buy American” rules is too expensive, there remains an abundance of money to pay (and over-pay) Halliburton and KBR. Misplaced priorities? You bet. I see more than 610 American dead in Iraq with no end in sight. All Americans are waiting for the next big terrorism attack here on our soil. Homeland Security is supposed to be funding and coordinating efforts. The first responders—local firefighters and police—still have no additional funds to implement new requirements mandated by Homeland Security. Are we safer today than on 9-11? In Unity,
Help Stamp Out the Rumsfeld PlanUse some or all of these points when you write your lawmakers. Ask them to put a stop to Secretary Rumsfeld's power grab and work with DOD workers to develop a National Security Personnel System (NSPS) that really protects and advances America's national security. Six Good Reasons to Scrap Rumsfeld's Proposed NSPS
# # # Where's
the outrage?
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Metal Trades Department, AFL-CiO • 815 16th Street, NW •Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-508-3705 • Fax: 202-508-3706 • email: metaltradesweb@aol.com
