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AFGE Week in Review (June 30, 2009)
Gage Testifies before NSPS Review Board: AFGE President John Gage told the NSPS review board that the Pentagon's pay system needs to be repealed. Testifying before the three-member panel last Thursday, which was the first day of the two-day public hearing on NSPS, Gage said there were many serious problems with the system, including forced distribution of ratings, unequal amounts of pay pool funds, unfair payouts and promotions, and inadequate training for supervisors. NSPS also hurt morale and teamwork. "Why are we doing this when it doesn't motivate employees, doesn't move productivity?" Gage asked. Supervisors are not happy with NSPS either. James Isaac, a first-line supervisor with the Navy in San Diego, said he was forced to rewrite employee evaluations to match the lower ratings mandated by the pay pool panel, which is located in Virginia and made decisions based solely on his writing skills. "The whole process is unfair. It's ruining a lot of morale," he said, adding that he doesn't know any first-line supervisors or employees who like NSPS. Federal Managers Association President Darryl Perkinson said that there is pressure to lower ratings in the event that there are too many 4s on the scale of 5, and that workers with the same rating received different payouts even though they work in the same facility. "It turns into a writing contest," he said, adding that pay pool panels are out of touch with the workers they are rating. The review panel raised several questions about pay pools, performance evaluation and supervisor training after NSPS Program Executive Officer Brad Bunn testified. Asked if employee performance goes up under NSPS, Bunn said while DoD tracks the number of employees whose ratings improved, the department doesn't track their productivity. The panel, which received more than 500 written comments from the public, will issue its recommendations later this summer whether to end, keep, or make changes to NSPS. Full House, Senate Panel Approve NSPS Repeal: The House and the Senate Armed Services Committee last week passed the 2010 Defense Authorization bills to kill NSPS. Both bills have a provision that would repeal NSPS and convert employees to the General Schedule in one year unless the Defense Department makes significant changes to the system. The bills would also give NSPS employees the same full governmentwide pay raise the GS employees receive every year. Currently, NSPS employees receive 60 percent of the nationwide raise with the rest going to pay pools. The bills would prohibit DoD from putting new hires under NSPS and from classifying any jobs as being covered under NSPS. House Passes Federal Benefit Reforms: Also included in the House-passed Defense Authorization bill is a measure that would allow federal employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System to count unused sick leave toward their length of service in the calculation of their annuities. The bill would also move federal employees working in Hawaii, Alaska, and U.S. territories from the cost of living adjustments system to locality pay, and would make it easier for federal employees who want to gradually shift into retirement by working part-time at the end of their careers because their annuities would be calculated based on the salary they would have received as full-time employees. The bill would make it easier to rehire federal retirees part time and would grant employees in the D.C. Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency credit for their time in service to the agency before the agency was transferred to the federal government. House Panel to Vote on TSO Bargaining Rights Bill: An AFGE-backed bill that would grant Transportation Security Administration workers collective bargaining rights and the same workplace protections as other federal workers is scheduled to be debated and voted on by the House Homeland Security Committee July 9. The Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act, H.R. 1881, would give Transportation Security Officers the right to bargain collectively for better workplace rules. It would do away with TSA's highly subjective pay system, the Performance Accountability and Standards System, and would move TSOs under the General Schedule system, which covers most federal employees. AFGE has been working closely with lawmakers in drafting the bill, which AFGE believes would address TSA's personnel issues such as low morale, high attrition and injury rates. Inside Government: AFGE's ongoing fight against the Pentagon's misguided pay-for-performance system was addressed last week on AFGE's radio show, Inside Government. Terry Rosen, AFGE labor relations specialist, discussed NSPS and why AFGE has opposed its implementation from the start. Rosen broke down nearly every aspect of the system – from its funding to how dollars are actually distributed – to present AFGE's case why the so-called "pay-for-performance" system must be repealed. Also appearing on the show were Daniel Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, and Page Gardner, president of Women's Voices. Women Vote. Weiss shared his thoughts on cap and trade in the U.S. and the need for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. Gardner then addressed the significance of women voters and how a certain subgroup, such as unmarried women, can change the outcome of an election. Inside Government - hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow - airs on Fridays at 10 a.m. EDT nationwide on Federal News Radio at www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area. Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio Web site and can be heard on demand at http://www.federalnewsradio.com or http://www.afge.org/insidegovernment. Please note there will be a short advertisement prior to the start of the program. The program also airs on Saturdays at 7 a.m. on KTKK 630 AM, "The Voice of Utah," in Ogden, Utah sponsored by AFGE Local 1592. For more information, please e-mail InsideGovernment@afge.org or go to www.federalnewsradio.com. |
AFGE, DoD Workers Hold Rally against
NSPS: Nearly 100 Defense employees and union activists
last Thursday rallied in front of a Hyatt Hotel in Arlington,
where the first public hearing on the Pentagon’s
controversial pay system took place. The rally was aimed at
drawing attention to workers’ outrage over the National
Security Personnel System, which has been under fire for its
lack of transparency and fairness, among other serious flaws.
