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Washington, D.C.— Legislation passed last night by the Senate to establish a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a “great disappointment” and is most notable not for what the bill contains, but for what is missing, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said.

“The homeland security bill passed by the House and the Senate leaves employees who will transfer into the new department completely in the dark about their role in the agency, as well as their future civil service and collective bargaining rights,” Kelley said. “This is not the way to build an effective agency. The new department will need the commitment and dedication of front-line employees who feel secure in their abilities to do the jobs entrusted to them by the American people, and this legislation does not offer employees this security.”

Under the legislation, the secretary of the new department and the director of the Office of Personnel Management have the ability to modify or eliminate six areas of current civil service law including pay systems, performance appraisals, discipline, job classification, appeals, and collective bargaining. To date, the administration has not indicated what changes it wishes to make or how those changes will affect employees and their job duties.

Also missing in the legislation is adequate funding for the department. The DHS will be comprised of 22 existing departments and agencies, all of which are operating under last year’s funding levels because Congress has not passed appropriations bills for the current fiscal year. The lack of funding for the current 2003 fiscal year has put additional hiring and other border security initiatives at risk.

“Operating under a continuing resolution is squeezing agencies, many of which have steps planned that may increase security but they are unable to put these into action,” Kelley said. “This is not what the American people deserve. Funding for these agencies must be quickly provided.”

Further hampering the effectiveness of the new department is the pledge by the administration that the department will require no new funding.

“This was not the intent of our political leaders when they passed the Patriot Act,” Kelley said. This act called for a tripling of Customs Service inspectors on the northern border and additional inspectors along the southern border but the act has never been funded and new inspectors have not been hired.

“The two most important things needed to improve homeland security are front-line employees with a real voice in how the work gets done and the funding and resources to bolster personnel, equipment and technology. The homeland security bill contains neither,” Kelley said.

NTEU represents nearly 12,000 employees of the U.S. Customs Service, who are among the 170,000 federal workers who will be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.