Ten labor unions, representing 300,000 civilian employees of the U.S. Department of Defense, filed a federal lawsuit today against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, saying Rumsfeld's department has refused to negotiate changes in its labor management system in violation of the law.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, comes after months of protests by the unions over proposals for a new National Security Personnel System, which was authorized for development by Congress in November 2003.
The unions say the system, which seeks flexibility in hiring and assigning workers for security reasons, is using threats to security as a way to diminish the union's ability to advocate for workers.
The Department of Defense's Web site said the new system is needed to replace outmoded human resource practices and better support the department's "critical national security mission."
Bradley Bunn, NSPS deputy program executive officer, would not comment directly on the suit. But in a statement he said that "the proposed NSPS regulations are the product of a collaborative effort across the Department that... included a number of meetings with employee representatives involving extensive and fruitful discussions."
The lawsuit said the Defense Department had the right to establish changes in the department's labor relations systems, but by law, those changes would have to be done in collaboration with employees.
Instead, the suit said, "secret working groups" developed changes privately and did not provide unions with concrete proposals.
About 4,000 Navy employees in Philadelphia will be affected, said James Winward, an engineer and vice president of Local 3 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers in Philadelphia. "This system threatens their pay, job stability and unions."
The lawsuit asks the judge to restrain the Defense Department from implementing any new labor systems until it provides drafts of proposals and enters into meaningful discussion.
Among the unions filing suit were the International Association of Firefighters, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the American Federation of Government Employees. Besides Rumsfeld, the unions sued Dan G. Blair, acting director of the United States Office of Personnel Management.
