WP: Court Backs Defense Workplace Changes -- For Now

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/20/AR2007052001310.html

Court Backs Defense Workplace Changes -- For Now

By Stephen Barr
Monday, May 21, 2007; Page D01

It was a big victory, but it did not stop the clock.

A federal appeals court, in a 2 to 1 decision, ruled last week that the Defense Department could go forward with some of the most dramatic workplace changes planned for civil service employees in 30 years.

The changes would sharply curb union rights at Defense and overhaul how the department's civilian employees are paid, promoted and disciplined. The ruling ended a string of judicial and legislative triumphs by unions opposed to Bush administration plans to take away most of their collective bargaining rights.

But the judges, in their opening comments, pointed out that Congress, in a 2004 law, granted the Pentagon only "temporary authority to curtail collective bargaining" for Defense employees. This period expires in November 2009, when the regular civil service rules for collective bargaining will resume, the judges said.

The 2009 deadline is likely to loom large for the National Security Personnel System, the name of the Defense initiative. Pentagon officials will have to weigh the worth of implementing difficult and contentious changes in labor rules that may be in effect for only two years.

Officials also will have to evaluate whether to ask Congress to extend the deadline -- something the Democrats in charge may not want to do given their close alliance with union leaders. The House last week approved a rollback of the National Security Personnel System, as urged by unions. The measure has drawn a veto threat from the White House.

FULL story at link.