New Year, New Opportunities
This past year was a time of great progress and achievement for NFFE and its members. We have seen vast improvements in our organizing, stepped up our communications and secured a series of significant legislative victories.
Now, with 2010 in full swing, we are looking to build on these successes and bring our union to even greater heights. In this spirit, I would like to share with you some of the many priorities that NFFE will pursue as 2010 continues to unfold.
In the early days of this year, we announced the formation of the Federal Workers Alliance (FWA), a coalition of 21 unions representing federal workers. FWA members will work together in solidarity to promote favorable legislation and personnel policies for the more than 300,000 combined federal employees it represents. Working side by side with our union brothers and sisters on these matters benefits us all.
Another important relationship we are looking to cultivate is that between labor and management at the many agencies we represent. We intend to play a very active role in the formation of new agency partnership councils. Our goal is to build a strong foundation for robust and productive dialogue to take place between workers and their managers.
We have an ambitious legislative agenda for 2010. Among our numerous legislative priorities this year, we hope to secure pay parity between military and civilian employees, establish a paid parental leave benefit, and to obtain the benefits that many temporary federal employees are denied.
Lastly, NFFE will continue to focus on organizing and engaging new members. With the new Organizing Strategic Plan in motion, we are committing significant time and resources to growing our union. By year's end we anticipate greater growth in members than we experienced in 2009.
With your help, I am looking forward to making 2010 the best year ever to be a NFFE member.
William R. Dougan
DoD, OPM Release New Details on NSPS Review
Friday, May 15, 2009
(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Today, the office of
the Assistant Secretary of Defense released new
details concerning the pending review of the
much-maligned National Security Personnel
System.
In the news release,
Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn called
on the Defense Business Board, an independent
advisory body to the DoD Secretary on
management issues, to assemble a task force to
review the system.
“The task group should
deliver recommendations aimed at helping the
Department determine (1) if the underlying
design principles and methodology for
implementation are reflected in the program
objectives; (2) whether the program objectives
are being met; and (3) whether NSPS is
operating in a fair, transparent, and effective
manner,” wrote Lynn in his instructions to the
Defense Business Board.
The review board will be
chaired by Rudy deLeon, the senior vice
president of National Security and
International Policy at the Center for American
Progress in Washington, D.C. The
other members of the group will be Michael
Bayer, chairman of the Defense Business Board,
and Robert Tobias, a professor at American
University and director for the Institute for
the Study of Public Policy
Implementation.
“We praise Director Berry and Deputy
Secretary Lynn for taking swift action to
assess the National Security Personnel System,"
said NFFE National President Richard N. Brown.
"Once it is exposed for the anti-union,
anti-worker personnel system that it is, they
will come to agree with us that nothing short
of a complete repeal is the only way to move
forward.”
According to the release,
the group's findings will be unveiled later
this summer.
