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Washington, D.C.—As a three-day public meeting to explore options for a possible new personnel system at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gets underway, the leader of the largest independent union of federal employees today expressed her hope that the interests of front-line homeland security employees “get full consideration” in the deliberations.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) made that statement as today’s opening session of the DHS Senior Review Committee (SRC) begins. The SRC, of which Kelley is a member, is charged with examining a variety of personnel options that have been developed for consideration in DHS.

The options were prepared by a design team that conducted town hall meetings and focus groups at various ports around the country.

“NTEU worked very hard to address any legitimate concerns DHS has raised” about personnel policies, President Kelley said. “I hope the serious and thoughtful work of NTEU in this effort is met with the full consideration it deserves,” she added.

President Kelley noted that from the beginning of legislative activity that led to creation of DHS, NTEU has emphasized two critical points. One is that for a very long time, unionized federal

NTEU’s Kelley On SRC Meeting—Add One workers responsible for security at the nation’s borders, airports and seaports have been doing their jobs and doing them well. The other is that the only way the new department can succeed is if employees and their representatives are fully involved in meaningful ways in the planning, development and implementation of any new human resource management system.

Moreover, she noted, DHS Secretary Tom Ridge recognized all this by repeatedly identifying the need to work in a collaborative atmosphere not only with the men and women on the front lines of defending the nation’s borders, but with their chosen representatives as well.

Once the work of the SRC is complete, the matter moves to Secretary Ridge and Director Kay Coles James of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for final decision.

The legislation creating DHS provided for “flexibility” in six defined areas—basic pay, position classification, performance management, labor relations, adverse actions and appeals. At the same time, the Homeland Security Act does not allow the department’s secretary to waive any current provision of law relating to premium pay or retirement benefits.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments, including some 12,000 employees of the Customs Service who were transferred into DHS’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

For more information, visit the NTEU web site at www.nteu.org