Unions Leave “Sham” NSPS Collaboration; Coalition Still Strong

Washington, DC — Yesterday, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and five other unions that withdrew from meet-and-confer discussions with the Pentagon held a press conference to publicly voice their reasons for backing out of the process.  Armed with an exit letter addressed to Department of Defense (DoD) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) officials that spelled out union concerns, union officials charged DoD’s lackluster attempt to reach agreement on key provisions of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) was flawed and illegal.

“The law states very clearly that DoD has to meet with the unions, and attempt to reach agreement,” said NFFE National President/DBR Richard N. Brown.  “DoD made it clear that they would agree to nothing.  The process was a sham, so we suspended our participation.”

In an impressive show of solidarity, United DoD Worker Coalition unions that remained in meet and confer discussions sent representatives to the press conference to demonstrate their support for the actions taken by the withdrawing unions.

“A union’s job is to serve its members,” said Mark Gibson, Labor Relations Specialist at the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).  “Some unions had members who wanted their leaders to stay at the table, other unions had members who wanted their leaders to leave, but all the unions are standing together.”

With meet-and-confer over, NFFE is now shifting attention to Congress.  “We’re calling on every member of Congress and every Senator to do the right thing,” said Brown.  “And the right thing is to reverse NSPS.  It will do more harm than good.”