HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

175

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

H.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting secretary of defense donald rumsfeld to IMPLEMENT A National Security Personnel system THAT PROTECTS AND MAINTAINS THE CIVIL SERVICE RIGHTS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EMPLOYEES.

 

 

WHEREAS, the 32,000 federal employees who live and work in Hawaii make an important contribution to improving the quality of life in our communities each and every day; and

WHEREAS, federal employees in Hawaii provide a wide range of critical services to residents and provide quality health care to veterans in the State; and

WHEREAS, federal employees contribute as our neighbors and friends to the economic health of our community and the vitality of our neighborhoods as active volunteers in our churches, schools, and other civic organizations; and

WHEREAS, federal employees in Hawaii are committed to protecting our families and providing the services we rely on everyday, such as:

(1) Ensuring that our food is safe to eat;

(2) Ensuring that retirees, the disabled, and their survivors receive Social Security and supplemental income checks on a timely basis;

(3) Delivering our mail; and

(4) Building, maintaining, and modernizing the United States Armed Forces, including helping to deploy and supply American troops in Iraq;

and

WHEREAS, the 2004 Defense Authorization Bill included the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) which will take away civil service protections from over 700,000 civilian United States Department of Defense (USDOD) employees, including some 16,000 who work in Hawaii -- the same Americans who work alongside our men and women in uniform at the USDOD to help keep America safe; and

WHEREAS, the USDOD is now implementing the NSPS, which allows the Secretary of Defense to eliminate civilian employees' rights to appeal management decisions to suspend, demote, discipline, or fire them, or to go to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) if they have evidence that such actions were taken on the basis of prejudice, politics, union status, a distortion of the facts or in violation of MSPB rules; and

WHEREAS, NSPS allows the Secretary of Defense to:

(1) Decide unilaterally to eliminate civilian employees' collective bargaining rights;

(2) Effectively negate the outcome of employees' elections of union representation through the collective bargaining process; and

(3) Decide unilaterally to refuse to bargain at the local level even in cases where the union's recognition as an exclusive bargaining representative is at the local level only;

and

WHEREAS, USDOD proposes to replace collective bargaining with "consultation", with unions representing its employees over proposed personnel changes; and

 

WHEREAS, USDOD will be able to issue regulations that will supersede the contents of collective bargaining agreements even after both the union and management sign an agreement -- regulations that take precedence over the contract, thus rendering the collective bargaining process meaningless; and

WHEREAS, for more than 50 years, civilian defense employees have worked to support and deploy our armed forces, and the rights and personnel policies they work under have never been cited as an impediment to national security; and

WHEREAS, proponents of NSPS have not and cannot produce any evidence that such drastic measures are needed, and U.S. environmental, public health, and labor laws already give USDOD all the flexibility it needs to balance employment policies and environmental protection with national security and military readiness; and

WHEREAS, Congress clearly intended that collective bargaining be protected by the National Defense Authorization Act, which granted the Secretary such authority and stated that USDOD could not waive Chapter 71 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, which establishes federal employees' rights to collective bargaining, yet Secretary Rumsfeld's plan explicitly states that USDOD "will not employ any provisions of U.S.C. Chapter 71"; and

WHEREAS, nothing in the NSPS has anything to do with national security, despite national security concerns having been described as the sole rationale for giving the Secretary of Defense authority to change USDOD's pay and personnel system; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Coalition of Federal Defense Unions, the Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council, the American Federal Government Employees, and the International Association of Fire Fighters strongly oppose authorizing the Secretary of Defense to exercise such powers, because it would lead directly to the destruction of the union rights and the dismantling of the civil service; and

 

WHEREAS, under his proposal, Secretary Rumsfeld has already abused his powers by attempting to defy the intent of Congress to protect the collective bargaining rights of federal employees; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the Senate concurring, that the United States Secretary of Defense is urged to consider withdrawing the USDOD's NSPS proposal and submit a new proposal that honors Congress' intention to protect and maintain civil service rights and collective bargaining rights; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Secretary of Defense is urged to:

(1) Implement new rules honoring existing collective bargaining rights;

(2) Allow USDOD employees to exercise their right to union representation; and

(3) Allow unions to offer real representation to their members;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's Congressional delegation is urged to consider rescinding the broad grant of authority to the Secretary of Defense and, instead, require that USDOD's new rules:

(1) Be approved by Congress;

(2) Conform to existing collective bargaining rights;

(3) Allow USDOD employees to exercise their right to union representation; and

(4) Allow unions to offer real representation to their members;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to: the President of the United States; the United States Secretary of Defense; Hawaii's Congressional delegation; Governor Linda Lingle; the Hawaii Coalition of Federal Defense Unions; Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council; American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1213, Local 1209, and Local 1229; International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers, Local 742; International Association of Fire Fighters, Local F-0263; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local 1998; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, Local 90; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186; International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 1903; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 996; International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 121; International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 3; Laborers International Union of North America, Local 368; Service Employees International Union/National Association of Government Employees, Local 556; Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 293; United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Local 811; and United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Local 745.

 

 

Report Title:

REQUESTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD TO WITHDRAW THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE'S PROPOSAL REGARDING A "NATIONAL SECURITY PERSONNEL SYSTEM" AND TO SUBMIT A NEW PROPOSAL CONSISTENT WITH THE INTENT OF CONGRESS.