Language Contained in 2008 Defense Authorization Act

Washington, D.C. -- “The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law this last Monday by President Bush, brings to an end one of the most unrelenting attacks on collective bargaining in American history.  Ironically, President Bush’s own Administration launched the assault in 2003, including vicious attacks on those of us who fought to protect the rights of working Americans.  

Under the pretext of national security, Donald Rumsfeld’s Department of Defense tried to revoke long-established and statutorily-authorized collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of loyal, skilled, dedicated Department of Defense civilian employees — many of them members of employee union for decades — and replace those rights with its own anti-worker National Security Personnel System (NSPS). 

After four years of lawsuits and back and forth federal court decisions, Congress has finally restored the basic rights of hard-working government employees to bargain collectively over the terms and conditions of their work, and to have in place an independent appeals process to handle disciplinary actions.

The new law exempts blue-collar Defense employees from the NSPS, and ensures that employees who are in the NSPS and perform at satisfactory levels receive annual raises and locality adjustments and have an opportunity to earn performance-based raises and bonuses.

This language in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, now Public Law 110-181, affirms the existence of the social contract between employer and employee; affirms the value and dignity of an honest day’s work; and affirms this nation’s core belief in fundamental justice.   I’m proud that I fought against the National Security Personnel System in 2003, and that I was part of the leadership of the House Armed Services Committee in 2007 that wrote the language to restore the rights of so many Americans.”

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