ATTN:: 'National Security' Part Of Bush Plan To Gut Civil Services

[Guest guest]

You should read this particularly if you are a government employee ....

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> 'National Security' Part Of Bush Plan To Gut Civil Services

>

> Helen Thomas

>

> September 3, 2003: The Bush administration is evoking " national security "

> as a powerful weapon to accomplish its twin goals of privatizing thousands

> of federal jobs and taking a whack at government unions.

>

> The administration's sales pitch is to raise the specter of terrorism and

> 9-11 -- a surefire way to scare Congress into backing plans to gut the

> Civil Service system.

>

> Congress passed the Civil Service Act in 1883 to end the spoils system,

> which based federal employment on nepotism and cronyism.

>

> The bad old days may be returning. I note the lack of competitive bids on

> some government contracts to rebuild Iraq and the appearance of favoritism

> in the administration's decisions to award contracts to politically

> influential companies.

>

> John Gage, President of the AFL-CIO's American Federation of Government

> Employees (AFGE), sees a trend. He predicts " a return to the spoils system

> for politically connected corporations and campaign contributors. "

>

> The administration's drive to cut down the size of the government and

shift

> federal jobs and services to private contractors is a process known as

> " outsourcing. "

>

> Halliburton, the oil-field construction company, comes to mind as a firm

> that has perfected outsourcing.

>

> Once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, Halliburton has received

> contracts for rebuilding Iraq totaling nearly $2 billion, not to mention

> the multimillion-dollar billings for cells it built for the prisoners at

> Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

>

> The White House Office of Management and Budget has given federal agencies

> until Oct. 31 to designate 15 percent of their jobs as " not inherently

> governmental " and, therefore, available for competitive outside contracts.

>

> Strangely, despite all the concerns about airport security, the air

traffic

> controllers were put in that category.

>

> That would seem to be one area where the government would want to have

more

> control on personnel selection. After all, before 9-11, airport security

> screeners had been employees of private companies.

>

> Congress and the public later woke up to the fact that these private firms

> weren't up to the job of reliably protecting travelers.

>

> The result was that Congress forced President Bush to accept new

government

> agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation

> Security Administration -- to increase the federal role in safeguarding

the

> public.

>

> Even then, Bush held out for his personal goal of cutting the strength of

> federal employee unions in the new department.

>

> The workers in 22 agencies who were shifted to the new Department of

> Homeland Security lost their basic collective bargaining rights.

>

> Gage said the assault on the Civil Service system was " shocking and

wrong. "

>

> " Our people are scared to death they'll lose their jobs and the Bush

> administration will try to dismantle the system, " he said.

>

> Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., voted against creation of the Homeland Security

> Department in that form as part of his efforts to preserve the workers'

> union rights.

>

> He paid the political price when he failed to win reelection last year

> after Bush went to Atlanta six times to campaign against him.

>

> The Republican opposition played hard ball, calling Cleland -- who lost

> both legs and an arm in the Vietnam war -- " unpatriotic. "

>

> The administration is also locking and loading against any involvement of

> unions in the civilian workforces of the Pentagon and the Transportation

> Department.

>

> In a power grab, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has drafted a plan that

> bars collective bargaining for the Pentagon's 640,000 civilian workers,

> eliminates due process in the workplace and promotes public-private

> competition for defense work.

>

> Gage said the plan amounts to " contractors in, federal workers out. "

>

> The Rumsfeld plan was rammed through the House but was rejected in the

> Senate. The issue will be resolved in a conference committee.

>

> Rumsfeld should stop tampering with the job security of Pentagon civilians

> and pay more attention to the two wars he is trying to run.

>

> Gage said the moves to privatize the government payroll were a " grand

slam "

> blow to the Civil Service system and organized labor.

>

> Beyond what looks like a bow to big business, Karl Rove, the president's

> political guru, tipped the administration's hand on why the administration

> thinks federal workers are suspect.

>

> In an interview in The New Yorker magazine on May 12, Rove said: " Bigger

> government strengthens the Democratic Party.

>

> It generates federal employees who will mostly vote Democratic ...

> conversely, smaller government helps the Republicans. "

>

> And if the message hasn't sunk in, the president has more Labor Day good

> news for them.

>

> Citing a national emergency, he plans to hold government civilian pay

> raises to 2 percent instead a 2.7 percent. Also ruled out was a proposed

> salary hike to make it comparable with the private pay scales in certain

> geographical areas.

>

> As the nation's chief public servant, Bush should be protecting the rights

> of government employees who serve all Americans, not undermining them at

> their workplace.

>

> (Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address

> <helenthelent

> http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4610.htm

>