August 4, 2007
METAL TRADES DEPARTMENT APPLAUDS HOUSE ACTION TO DEFUND NSPS
In the wake of action by the full House of Representatives to strip away all funding FOR the controversial National Security Personnel System, Ron Ault, President of the AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department issued the following statement:
“The AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department applauds the action of the House of Representatives to defund the Pentagon’s ill-advised National Security Personnel System. Under the bipartisan leadership of Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Walter Jones (R-NC) the House of Representatives has acted to restore fairness and balance for Defense Department personnel. We also appreciate the leadership of DOD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) for his support of DOD civilian workers. We encourage their colleagues in the U.S. Senate to uphold this amendment.
“We are hopeful that this is the beginning of the end in what has been a four-year fight to protect constitutional and statutory rights for 750,000 DOD civilian workers. We remain cautiously optimistic that Congress will act and the President will sign a final measure that ensure bilateral labor relations and recognizes the legitimate rights of DOD workers to preserve their voice on the job.”
The so-called National Security Personnel System is a draconian re-write of DOD personnel regulations which its authors claim was authorized by the 2004 Defense Appropriations Bill. The Metal Trades Department has been part of United DOD Workers Coalition (UDWC), a multi-union organization that has challenged DOD’s personnel initiative since it was unveiled, testifying before Congressional committees and filing suit in federal court to try to block implementation. The Coalition charged that DOD grossly exceeded the authority that Congress granted it, attempting to implement tight controls on collective bargaining, employee protections against unilateral actions to curtail pay, and as an effort to ignore statutorily guaranteed protections—including Veterans Preference—in the face of reductions in force.
UDWC has consistently maintained that the NSPS was an opportunistic power grab by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to use the Pentagon as a laboratory to institute a wide array of anti-worker, anti-union policies that would eventually be exported to all other government agencies.
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CiO • 815 16th Street, NW •Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-508-3705 • Fax: 202-508-3706 • email: metaltradesweb@aol.com
