NSPS Regs Issued; Implementation Set for Day After Thanksgiving

Washington, DC— Yesterday, after several months of anticipation, the Department of Defense (DoD), along with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), published final regulations for the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), the Pentagon’s overhaul of personnel rules affecting collective bargaining, pay, and discipline for DoD employees.

Although the regulations were published yesterday, Congressional notification was given the day before.  The Pentagon sent copies of the regulations to Congress at 2 PM on October 26^th, making it the first day of the 30-day Congressional notification period.  Not so coincidentally perhaps, this makes the first day of implementation for NSPS the Friday after Thanksgiving, an ideal day to guarantee the least amount of media coverage possible.

The regulations were published for the general public at 8:45 yesterday morning according to Mary Lacey, NSPS Program Executive Officer.  Although the regulations were officially published, they were not immediately put up on agency websites.  However, a version sent to unions with national consultation rights was published on several federal employee union sites (including NFFE’s website, http://www.nffe.org/) by mid-afternoon.

Regarding the actual content of the NSPS regulations, there was little indication that the 58,000 public comments and the 30-day meet-and-confer with unions influenced any meaningful changes to the proposed regulations; the scope of bargaining is still greatly reduced, details on pay-for-performance are still vague and worrisome, and the new National Security Labor Relations Board is still stacked against bargaining unit employees with all management appointees, among other problems.  (A more thorough analysis of the regulations will follow in the coming days.)

“These NSPS regulations confirm that DoD and OPM were making light of employee concerns,” said NFFE National President/DBR Richard N. Brown.  “What is worse, these rules are threatening to Defense workers, and when they threaten Defense workers, they threaten national security.  The federal employees that support our military deserve better than this.”