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Radio Spots Highlight Anti-Union Rules at Department of Defense

September 21, 2005 

As the Bush administration pushes new rules that would deny collective bargaining and civil service rights to some 750,000 Defense Department workers, including around 12,000 IBEW members, unions are fighting back with hard-hitting radio spots, newspaper and billboard advertisements.

The United Department of Defense Workforce Coalition, composed of 36 labor unions, including the IBEW, is asking citizens to call members of Congress to voice their disapproval of the administration's plan.

The coalition contends that if the DoD rule changes are approved, they could, like President Reagan's firing of 13,000 striking federal air traffic controllers in 1981, spearhead a new wave of anti-union activity against private sector unions.

Keith Hill, a 31-year civilian employee of DoD, a Vietnam-era veteran and the father of an Iraq War veteran, asks in one radio spot, why Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is "calling me a threat to national security because I belong to a union." Hill says:

"This winter I'll return to Afghanistan for another voluntary tour of duty in support of our troops. I'll be relieving a civilian colleague who has been in Afghanistan for almost a year. It's up to Congress to make sure that, when he comes back, he comes home to the same workplace protections he had when he volunteered to support or troops in a perilous land."

The National Security Personnel System (NSPS) is patterned closely after the personnel system President Bush was set to impose on 160,000 workers at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on August 15.

On August 12, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, responding to a suit by federal unions, challenging changes at the DHS, barred the administration from moving forward with the new DHS rules.

Collyer's decision said: "If the Department of Homeland Security implements proposed new work rules, federal unions will be bargaining on "quicksand as the department would retain the right to change the underlying bases for the bargaining relationship and absolve itself of contractual obligations while the unions would be bound."

Patti Viers - AF Veteran & 28 year civilian employee.

Keith Hill - Navy Veteran & 31 year civilian employee.

Bud Taylor - Retired Naval Officer and Purple Heart Recipent

For more information, visit:

United Department of Defense Workers Coalition Web site