Sent:
Subject: CORRECTED: DHS
Changes Are Just the Curtain-Raiser for DoD
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Last week we detailed proposed pay and labor relations changes at the Dept. of Homeland Security. DHS is significant
because it's the first big agency to propose major civil service changes
post-9/11. And DHS is very large, with some 180,000 employees.
But the changes at the Defense Dept. (DoD) would be
even more significant -- because they'd affect so many more civilian federal
employees. DHS and DoD together employ about
DoD isn't as far along as DHS, but here's what we know
so far --
-- NO CHANGE UNTIL NEW FISCAL YEAR. After first saying "June," DoD now expects the conversion to begin after
-- RULES ON REHIRING ANNUITANTS could come early. DoD
wants to clear away salary-offset stumbling-blocks.
-- OPPOSITION IS GROWING. DoD
will need several more months to draft new labor relations provisions. Union
opposition is growing fast, and some in Congress are edgy too, because DoD's expected draft would cut heavily into collective
bargaining rights. Provisions are expected to include --
-- Union appeals of labor-management disputes to be decided
by a new internal DoD board,
instead of FLRA, as at present.
-- Employee appeals of personnel actions to be decided by a
new internal DoD board with
MSPB review, instead of MSPB
alone, as at present.
-- National bargaining units would replace some of the 1,344
units covering 410,810 DoD
employees that were empowered
to bargain with DoD as of 2001.
-- In bargaining-unit elections, a majority of unit members
would be required to vote and the union would have to
receive a majority of votes cast. Presently, 30% of
bargaining unit members must agree to elections.