Passage of Defense Authorization is Pivotal in Fight for NSPS Reform
October 2, 2007
Washington, DC—Yesterday, the United States Senate passed the fiscal year 2008 Defense Authorization bill (HR 1585). Included in the bill was language to fundamentally reform the Pentagon’s contentious personnel plan, the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The bill was passed by a 92-3 vote.
Passage of the Defense Authorization bill greatly increases the chances of NSPS reform being passed this year. There has been great concern that the Senate would not pass the Defense Authorization bill, and that NSPS reform language in both versions of the bill would die with it. Having cleared this hurdle in the Senate, the chances of getting Congress to pass meaningful NSPS reform are good.
In the coming months, the House and Senate conferees will hammer out the differences between the two versions of the bill. NAGE and other federal employee unions will be lobbying Congress to adopt the House language in the conference report. The House language addresses most of the major concerns DoD workers have with NSPS. The Senate language does not go far enough to restore basic employee rights like collective bargaining and fair employee appeals. The Senate version also does nothing to ensure DoD workers will have input in the creation of DoD’s pay for performance system.
There is one provision of the Senate language that NAGE prefers over the House version. The Senate version included language to exempt blue collar workers from NSPS entirely. DoD’s pay for performance plan is not an ideal model for blue collar workers because it could create safety issues and it would likely hurt teamwork.
NAGE members are encouraged to contact their Representative and Senators to ask that the House NSPS language be included in the conference report.