House Passes Amendment Protecting Collective Bargaining For DoD Officers
Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, hailed last night’s passage of an amendment to H.R. 5631, the “FY2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act,” which eliminates funding for the Program Executive Officers (PEO) of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). If implemented in its current form, the NSPS will restrict collective bargaining rights for law enforcement officers employed by the Department of Defense (DoD).
“This was a very important vote
for us,”
The amendment, introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Walter Jones, Jr. (R-NC) passed by voice vote last night. The F.O.P. had been pushing for the amendment since February of this year, when a Federal appeals court struck down the collective bargaining sections of NSPS. The court ruled that the new system violated the rights of DoD employees because it would have reduced collective bargaining rights on issues such as overtime, flextime, and transfer away from any site by allowing the Secretary to remove any subject from bargaining. Despite this ruling, the PEO still had the authority to determine collective bargaining rights for our officers. With the passage of the amendment, however, the PEO will not receive the funding it needs to their efforts to undermine collective bargaining rights for DoD employees. The measure now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
“Our grassroots membership was
instrumental in winning the necessary support for this amendment,”
The Fraternal Order of Police is
the largest law enforcement labor organization in the