Unions Ask Court to Strike Down DoD Labor Rules

By MZ Hemingway
The Federal Times

Tuesday 03 July 2007

A coalition of Defense Department unions is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision to uphold the department's plans to curb collective bargaining and employee rights to contest disciplinary actions.

The planned Pentagon changes, which are part of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) and which union leaders say would eviscerate collective bargaining rights and give supervisors unchecked power in personnel decisions, were upheld in a 2-1 decision on May 18 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"The NSPS appeals court decision runs completely contrary to existing case law," said Richard Brown, National Federation of Federal Employees president. A previous appeals court decision in June 2006 struck down similar personnel rules at the Homeland Security Department.

"This decision allows the secretary of Defense to define collective bargaining however he wants to, when collective bargaining is a very well-defined term of art," Brown said.

The appeals court decision reversed an earlier ruling by a district court judge, who said the new rules improperly infringed on employees' collective bargaining rights, failed to provide an independent third-party review of labor-management disputes, and lacked a fair process to resolve appeals of adverse management actions.

The court could decide whether to hear the case again within a few weeks or several months, union officials said. Since reviews of court decisions are rare, union leaders are focusing their efforts in Congress where the House and Senate are considering bills to block portions of NSPS.

The House voted May 17 to block any changes to collective bargaining and appeals rights at the department, and the Senate Armed Services Committee approved similar language.

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