GovExec.com Workforce Week - September 13, 2004
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September 13, 2004
* Senate seeks to halt competition for immigration jobs
* Defense contract agency hiring civilians for overseas tours
* Whistleblowers urge workers to disclose classified information
* Unions, Pentagon agree to continue talking about personnel overhaul
* Senate panel approves military-civilian pay parity
* Debt ceiling showdown could affect TSP investments
* Panel criticizes insurance sales to military personnel
* Space facilities struggle to get back to business after hurricane
* Thrift Savings Plan funds grow slightly after losses in July
* Union's opposition to pay-for-performance systems unrelenting
* This week's column: Pay and Benefits Watch
* Quote of the week
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1. Senate seeks to halt competition for immigration jobs
By Amelia Gruber
The Senate Wednesday evening approved an amendment to the Homeland Security
Department's fiscal 2005 spending legislation that would prevent the potential
outsourcing of more than 1,100 federal immigration services jobs.
The language passed by a vote of 49 to 47 with four Democrats absent: Sens. John Kerry
of Massachusetts, John Edwards of North Carolina, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Hillary
Clinton of New York. It would halt funding for an ongoing public-private competition
for immigration information officer, contact representative and investigative
assistant work, announced in August 2003. House members approved similar language by a
comfortable margin in mid-June.
White House officials threatened to veto the $32 billion appropriations bill if the
final version contains provisions hindering the Bush administration's competitive
sourcing program, a management initiative aimed at allowing contractors to bid on
thousands of federal jobs. Competitive sourcing helps agencies operate more
efficiently, Office of Management and Budget officials said in a Sept. 8 policy
statement.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904a2.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904a2.htm
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2. Defense contract agency hiring civilians for overseas tours
By George Cahlink
The Defense Contract Management Agency wants to quickly hire 200 civilian workers to
go to war zones around the globe and oversee Defense contracts and property.
Air Force Col. Jamie Adams, chief of staff at the agency, said workers would be hired
as emergency personnel who could be deployed within 90 days of starting their jobs.
The agency needs them because continuous deployments are straining civilian and
military personnel at DCMA who can manage overseas contracts, Adams added.
According to Adams, the jobs were not being created out of any concern about poor
contract oversight overseas. Also, he stressed, DCMA would not add any new positions
to its payrolls, but would create them from existing vacancies.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/091004g1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/091004g1.htm
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3. Whistleblowers urge workers to disclose classified information
By Chris Strohm
A group of former government officials urged federal employees Thursday to come
forward with information exposing government wrongdoing - - especially with regard to
Iraq - - and announced a new legal support network to protect whistleblowers.
The group issued a public memo asking current government officials to disclose
classified information concerning plans and cost estimates for the war in Iraq, as
well as other documents that reveal government deceit or misconduct.
"Some of you have documentation of wrongly concealed facts and analyses that, if
brought to light, would impact heavily on public debate regarding crucial matters of
national security, both foreign and domestic," the memo states. "We urge you to
provide that information now, both to Congress and, through the media, to the public."
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904c1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904c1.htm
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4. Unions, Pentagon agree to continue talking about personnel overhaul
By David McGlinchey
Despite union concerns that Pentagon officials were ending discussions on the overhaul
of the Defense Department personnel system, the talks continued Friday and both sides
have committed to keeping communication open, according to participants.
"Today I thought the meeting went well," said Gregory Junemann, president of the
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. "I thought ... the
general mood of the meetings was good. I thought it was productive."
Last week, a coalition of federal employee unions held a press conference to protest
what they called an underhanded Defense Department plan to outsource government jobs.
Union officials asked Congress for help in keeping the Defense Department from ending
talks. Last year, Pentagon officials asked Congress for the right to develop a new
personnel policy - known as the National Security Personnel System - in order to deal
with extensive, long-lasting overseas military deployments and terrorist threats.
Congress granted sweeping personnel powers to the Defense Department and the Homeland
Security Department.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/091004d1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/091004d1.htm
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5. Senate panel approves military-civilian pay parity
By David McGlinchey
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Treasury on Thursday
approved a 3.5 percent pay raise for all federal civilian employees in fiscal 2005.
The move - which took place as the subcommittee adjusted its spending bill - comes
despite extensive White House efforts to hold the civilian pay raise to 1.5 percent in
the coming year while granting a 3.5 percent raise to military personnel. President
Bush has said the military deserves the higher raise because of continued deployments
overseas, and his supporters in Congress have complained that the 3.5 percent civilian
raise will cost the federal government too much money. Supporters of equal pay raises
have said the pay boosts are needed for recruitment and retention. Several lawmakers
have noted that many civilian workers are heavily involved in homeland security,
anti-terrorism and military efforts.
In March, the House overwhelmingly endorsed equal pay raises for the military and
civilian workforce in a nonbinding "Sense of Congress" resolution. Several months
later, in July, the House Appropriations Committee voted to support pay parity, but
the full House has not yet officially addressed the issue.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904d1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904d1.htm
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6. Debt ceiling showdown could affect TSP investments
By Keith Koffler, CongressDaily
The federal government is just weeks away from reaching the statutory debt ceiling,
raising the specter of a major pre-Election Day political showdown over whether to
increase the borrowing limit so the government can continue to pay its bills.
The debate, if it occurs, could highlight the government's ongoing deficit spending at
a time when the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts,
will be hammering President Bush over the growth in the federal deficit that has
occurred under his watch.
But Republicans might be able to push the debate over into the post-election season if
a lame duck session is scheduled.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904cdam1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904cdam1.htm
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7. Panel criticizes insurance sales to military personnel
By Amy Klamper, CongressDaily
House Financial Services Committee members on Thursday criticized the continued sale
of contractual mutual insurance policies to soldiers on military bases, noting those
products have largely disappeared from the civilian market because of their costly
fees and low value.
"It is an outrage that financial products that were found so disreputable that they
disappeared from the civilian market 20 years ago have continued to survive on-post,
by being pawned off on unsuspecting young service people as part of 'approved' savings
and insurance plans," Rep. Max Burns, R-Ga., said in a statement. "In addition, we
have far too many unscrupulous insurance companies using federal military property to
dodge state insurance commissioners and sell overpriced policies with virtually no
oversight."
Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, said he does not support a complete
ban on financial product sales on bases.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904cdpm2.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904cdpm2.htm
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8. Space facilities struggle to get back to business after hurricane
By Beth Dickey
Disaster response teams scouring NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the aftermath of
Hurricane Frances have discovered more damage to important shuttle launch
infrastructure.
After a helicopter tour of the coastal spaceport last week, KSC Director James Kennedy
added a computer center to the growing list of facilities that are uninhabitable. He
told reporters that a factory for space shuttle thermal protection systems and the
mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building also are not safe for workers to enter.
"While it is so much better than we thought it might have been," Kennedy said, "the
truth of the matter is, many, many buildings have siding and roofing damage and water
leaking...and there's going to be an awful lot of work to repair the damage that's
been done." About 800 of the space center's 14,000 federal and contractor employees
work in the three hardest hit structures and that is one reason why the NASA
installation will not fully be open for business until at least Monday, he said.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804b1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804b1.htm
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9. Thrift Savings Plan funds grow slightly after losses in July
By David McGlinchey
The Thrift Savings Plan's funds stayed even or slightly gained value in August,
according to figures released by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.
Three of the funds - C, S and I - each lost more than 3 percent of their value last
month. Over the past year, only April saw more funds lose value. During August,
however, the C and I funds regained some ground while the S Fund stayed even. All
three have increased their value during the past year by at least 11 percent. The I
Fund has grown by almost 23 percent over the past 12 months.
Investors in the TSP, a 401(k)-style retirement plan for federal employees, can invest
in five funds. The Thrift plan has more than 3.2 million participants and $135 billion
in assets.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804d1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804d1.htm
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10. Union's opposition to pay-for-performance systems unrelenting
By Shawn Zeller
The Office of Personnel Management kicked off its 2004 Federal Workforce Conference in
Baltimore Wednesday with a spirited defense of civil service personnel reforms that
will soon shift more than 750,000 civilian employees out of the General Schedule and
into pay-for-performance systems.
In the conference's opening address, Ronald Sanders, OPM's associate director for
human resources management, said the changes were spurred by Sept. 11 and the
realization that government must have personnel systems that are tailored to
individual agency needs and that maximize flexibility to manage employees. At the same
time, he said, they must preserve merit system principles.
The approach that the Homeland Security Department took, which involved a year's worth
of discussions with employee union leaders, "is a perfect case study in preserving
those ideals on the one hand and maximizing flexibility on the other," Sanders said.
DHS, along with the Defense Department, received congressional approval to design new
personnel systems in 2002, and 2003, respectively.
Full story: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804sz1.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090804sz1.htm
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11. This week's column: Pay and Benefits Watch
Overhauling Overtime
Opinions diverge on what will happen if new overtime regulations are applied to the
federal workforce.
Full column: { Link: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904pb.htm }
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/090904pb.htm
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12. Quote of the Week:
"It's sort of the title of a book, pay-for-performance, but how thick is it and what
is it all about?"
-- Gregory Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and
Technical Engineers, asking for { Link:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/091004d1.htm }
more details about the Pentagon's new pay system.
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