Pentagon personnel change
worries civilian staff

Nearly 300 white-collar civilians who work for the military in Hawaii will be included in a test of the Pentagon's new performance-based personnel system, which will change how they are paid, promoted and disciplined.

But a coalition of 41 labor unions, including several at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, believes the pay-for-performance concept won't work.

Ben Toyama, who represents the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers at Pearl Harbor, said there have been many demonstration projects done here and on the mainland over the past 10 years.

"None of them have worked," said Toyama, who returned this month from Washington, D.C., where the labor coalition met with Pentagon leaders.

"DOD (Department of Defense) still has no answers," Toyama said. "After six months of meetings, there are still no answers."

Included in the first phase of what is being called the Department of Defense National Security Personnel System will be 265 civilians here who work for the Navy, one Air Force worker and 32 at Fort Shafter. The test group mainly involves civilians who handle personnel matters.

Spiral One, as the Pentagon calls the launch of the NSPS, will roll out in three phases over 18 months, starting in July. The Pentagon says the NSPS will be in full operation by January 2008, which would affect more than 15,000 blue- and white-collar workers here.

Some labor leaders fear the change could lead to the end of collective bargaining and employee protections, because the Pentagon has not spelled out details that would allow employees to judge how they might fare under the new system.

The announcement created unease among some union members because "we don't know what this NSPS is going to look like," said Aldon Kaopuiki, spokesman for Pearl Harbor's Metal Trades Council.

"We have reservations because they are not giving us a glimpse of what they plan to do."

In making the announcement that eventually will affect 700,000 civilians who work for all the military services, Navy Secretary Gordon England said the new personnel system authorized by Congress last year "provides an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of our department through a simplified personnel management system that will improve the way we hire and assign, as well as compensate and reward, our employees."

The new personnel system will base pay raises on performance, not seniority.

However, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said this month that Congress gave the Pentagon authority to make major personnel changes affecting 700,000 defense employees only with the understanding that those changes would be made in consultation with representatives of the employees.

"It's appalling that the Bush administration is ignoring that understanding by stonewalling the representatives and refusing to let them review personnel changes before they are published, though these changes will affect the wages and job security of every defense employee," Kennedy said. "This personnel policy should be developed in the most transparent way possible, but by excluding DOD's workforce, the administration has been far from transparent."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his aides told Congress last year that he believes the new personnel system will help the Pentagon deploy employees more efficiently, such as by placing civil service workers in jobs currently performed by the military.

Rumsfeld maintains the change is an attempt to offer more competitive compensation, link job performance more closely to salary decisions and foster better communication between managers and employees.

It eventually will be applied to blue-collar employees, and then to Defense Department civilians overseas.

The first, 18-month phase is an evaluation process in which the Pentagon will study how managers rate employees and make salary decisions.

An Air Force spokeswoman said that the 929 white-collar workers at Hickam Air Force Base won't be affected until June 2006. But no decision has been made concerning its 381 blue-collar workers.