FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2005
CONTACT: MATT BIGGS (240) 535-3321
Pentagon “Steamrolls” Collaborative Process
UDWC Member Representatives Unable to Meet
WASHINGTON, DC – Continuing to keep workers at arm’s length from the creation of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), Pentagon officials have strategically scheduled the ‘continuing collaboration’ process in the midst of the holiday season and during the last days of the Congressional session. In what appears to be a well planned effort to move forward without United DoD Workers Coalition (UDWC) member organizations present, the DoD continues to lock out workers from the creation of NSPS.
UDWC representatives proposed meeting dates early next month to collaborate with the Pentagon on seven recently issued Implementing Issuances that will govern pay, promotions, and other important working conditions. However, the good faith efforts of the UDWC were rejected by the Pentagon, who continue to steamroll forward without providing meaningful worker involvement.
Responding today to DoD’s unilaterally proposed Decembers 13th and 14th meeting dates, several UDWC member representatives issued the following statements:
AFL-CIO Legislative Analyst and UDWC Chairman Byron Charlton said the following:
“It appears that DoD has completely ignored the union coalition’s recommendations for the conduct and arrangements of future meetings. As we stated in the meetings of December 1st and 2nd, we could not meet on December 13th. Yet without consulting with us the DoD has continued to schedule a meeting for 13th of December. As stated previously in the meeting and in our memo on meeting procedures, the unions must be equal partners in the scheduling and participation of all meetings. If the collaborative process is to be a participatory practice of all parties we insist on consulting on schedules that accommodate the needs of management and the UDWC alike. Again, the Pentagon is displaying their disregard for the legitimate worker representatives.”
Commenting on the reckless use of government resources to implement NSPS, Michael Filler, UDWC representative from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), said:
“The federal judiciary and Congress must step in to put NSPS on hold, or the American taxpayers will be forced to pay billions in unnecessary costs for unneeded human resource changes, while DoD civilian workers are less able to provide the proper support for our military around the world.”
Adding a Holiday tone to the discussion, W.D. ‘Chico’ McGill, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) representative to the UDWC, offered the following comment:
“The originators of NSPS are truly being the Grinch that stole Christmas from the DoD workforce. How can any reasonable person who works from October creating parts of this misguided pay scheme, as was clearly indicated on some of the papers we received, expect those of us who are supposed to be ‘collaborators’ to digest and respond to something it took at least two months or more to put together? It only reinforces the fact that the Pentagon’s intentions continue to be to create NSPS independent of labor, with the employees to suffer the consequences in the workplace and the taxpayers to bankroll the costs.”
Mark Roth, General Counsel to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), also weighed in with the following statement:
“From the beginning DOD's concept of conferring with the Unions has been to tell us it’s either too early or too late to meet. Now they are trying to give us the worst of both worlds. After six months of dancing around all the details of the new NSPS, DOD has dropped four-hundred pages of technical rules and concepts on us and unilaterally mandated that we respond after the Holidays. Truly, they give new meaning to the concept of bad faith.”
Ron Ault, President of the AFL-CIO’s Metal Trades Department, rounded out the UDWC comments, saying “The Pentagon seems to have lost sight of the true meaning of ‘collaboration.’ These are intended to be joint meetings to be scheduled by both parties. They can’t just arbitrarily set a date and expect to meet. They are dictating, not accommodating. Simply stated, it is disrespectful.”
To learn more about the 36 member UDWC, please visit, www.uniteddodworkerscoalition.org .
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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@gmail.com
