AWF Supports Pentagon's Curtailing of Collective Bargaining
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brian M Johnson
14 AUGUST 2007
202-785-0266
AWF Supports Pentagon’s Curtailing of Collective Bargaining
U.S. Court of Appeals Upholds Union Setback
Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) supports the August 10th, 2007 ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that upholds the Pentagon’s plan to curtail employee’s collective bargaining rights.
The Pentagon’s new personnel rules, called the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), allow the department to assign employees new roles without going through the long, outdated and cumbersome process of union bargaining, and disciplines poor performers at the time of the incident. The discipline measure is critical as mistakes at the defense level can mean the loss of lives. The NSPS currently has 110,000 non-union civilian employees under its plan with no complaints and no incident – yet the unions are up in arms.
“This program does nothing more than allow the Pentagon to streamline their internal processes and more efficiently and effectively recruit, retain and reward its civilian Defense employees,” says AWF executive director Ryan Ellis. “The dog and pony show put on by unions is to further their own agenda without regard for employees rights or national security.”
Further, specific to dealing with national security, collective bargaining is a direct trade-off between increased security and the demands of unions.
“By insisting on seniority-based promotions rather than merit pay, which promotes based on qualifications, unions are placing our national security in direct jeopardy,” says Ellis. “If unions are truly interested in the well-being and safety of employees, then they would want the most qualified people doing the job; not pushing loyalists who can further their agendas.”
