What I Learned About NSPS by Attending The Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Hearing—
“Preparing for Transition: Implementation of the National Security Personnel System
Ft. DeRussy, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 12, 2006
By Ron Ault, President, Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO
I attended the field hearings chaired by Senator George Voinovich and co chaired by Minority Member, Senator Dan Akaka in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 12, 2006. I think everyone should thank Chairman Voinovich for going out of the Washington, D.C. region to hear directly from those workers who have to live with any new personnel system. As usual in these hearings, the cheer leaders for the Bush Administration got to testify first about how great the Emperor’s new clothes look, how wonderful NSPS is and how much money they are going to save by implementing NSPS…from the outset, Chairman Voinovich set the tone of the hearing by saying NSPS was here to stay and that we all should give it a chance. He reminisced and related his efforts to bring about a new personnel program in Ohio, where he and the unions worked together to set up a high performance management organization using Deming’s principles. I kept wondering what that cooperative personnel program had to do with NSPS when DOD’s NSPS specifically rejects everything Deming taught and has no employee empowerment whatsoever.
Hawaii Federal Employees MTC VP Don Bongo was testifying and relating his recent Hawaii National Guard, 227th Engineer Company combat experiences in Iraq about how the returning combat veterans felt about losing their workplace rights and loss of real veteran’s preference at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, when Chairman Voinovich interrupted and told him his time was up. I noted that Bongo was the only witness (and the only witness who placed his life on the line for our national security) that Chairman Voinovich cut off during the hearing….even though the administration’s management panel of three witnesses droned on and on extolling the virtues of NSPS far beyond the five minutes they were each allocated to testify. By my watch they had 30 (+) minutes of testimony.
IFPTE VP Ben Toyama (also a worker employed at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard) testified about the adverse changes to veterans’ preference under NSPS and the liklihood it will discourage workers from blowing the whistle on mistakes in workmanship or materials. This is especially dangerous in critical work on nuclear submarines where flaws could have disastrous effects similar to the NASA Challenger disaster. The only difference is that NSPS would put thousands of lives at stake, not just the lives of a crew, and catastrophic environmental damages would ensue should a nuclear reactor break open in an implosion of a submarine. Ben also related a union-initiated worker improvement program (MOONSHINE) that has dropped time it takes for one particular job from 400 man hours to just 8 man hours and that this employee-empowered cost savings program would not be possible under NSPS.
As a result of probing cross-examination by Senator Dan Akaka during this hearing we learned that no funding is being provided to implement DOD’s NSPS, although DOD will implement anyway…In response to Sen. Akaka’s withering questions, management officials conceded that the money will come out of the hides of the field activities at the expense of the mission and operating budget. We have questioned the cost of establishing and implementing a parallel federal personnel system at almost every meeting we have ever attended with DOD.
Our conservative estimate is that it will cost a minimum of seven (7) billion dollars, but likely much, much more. DOD is forcing these enormous NSPS costs on each command to self-fund. The results are obviously fewer submarines, ships, aircraft, body amor, rifles, ammunition, boots, uniforms, severe shortages of replacement parts for humvees, tanks, trucks, and supplies to the troops. DOD Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has placed a higher priority on getting NSPS implemented than he has on fighting the war on terrorism and supplying our troops in combat with critical supplies. This misplaced priority is especially hard to understand in light of federal court decisions declaring key provisions of NSPS illegal.
Does busting American unions have a higher priority in the Bush Administration than fighting Bin Laden and his minions? Who is the greatest threat to America?
Another NSPS feature that is now very clear: NSPS has nothing to do with “National Security”…all management witnesses are now using the buzzword of “flexibility” when justifying stripping workers of their workplace rights, and are not even attempting to justify any security concerns. Management testimony also revealed that one aspect of NSPS new “flexibility” will result in fewer protections for veterans in the event of a layoff (RIF). In a RIF under NSPS, veterans cannot bump and retreat to a job they previously held or are fully qualified to do.
And layoffs are looming due to the budget costs with commands forced to divert funds to pay for NSPS. At all of our Naval Shipyards, we are seeing a large reduction of workload due to fewer ships in the repair and overhaul schedule. Fleet Commands do not have the funds to perform repairs and overhauls. The Navy does not have the funds to build new ships, causing layoffs at the shipyards that build submarines and surface ships.
Tens of thousands of American workers stand to lose their jobs in the shipbuilding/repair industry because of DOD’s misplaced NSPS priorities. At the General Dynamics Submarine Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, the company announced a layoff of some 1,200 workersas a result of submarine cutbacks by the Navy. I am sure this is as true in the Air Force, Army, Marines and their related defense industries as well. The Navy recently announced that they had to retire the entire John F. Kennedy carrier battle group before the end of the warships service life due to a lack of funding.
The true costs to America of this ideological driven, union-busting scheme falsely titled “National Security Personnel System” is beyond calculation! You and your children will pay for NSPS for generations yet to come.
In spite of all this, Secretary Rumsfeld has borrowed the battle cry of John Paul Jones…Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead on NSPS!
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CiO • 815 16th Street, NW •Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-508-3705 • Fax: 202-508-3706 • email: metaltradesweb@gmail.com
