Three judges set to hear Defense personnel reform appeal

A panel of three new judges was picked Wednesday to decide what could be the final chapter in the legal battle between the government and federal employee unions over new labor relations rules in the Defense Department.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia randomly assigned Judges Brett Kavanaugh, David Tatel and Stephen Williams to hear arguments on Dec. 11 in the Pentagon's case. The panel's ruling could affect the Homeland Security Department's similar effort to overhaul labor relations.

Kavanaugh served in the White House as legal counsel and then staff secretary for President Bush from 2001 until Bush appointed him to his current position in May 2006. Williams is a Reagan appointee who became a senior judge in 2001. Tatel -- installed by Clinton in 1994 -- will be the lone Democratic appointee on the panel.

The three-judge panel that ruled harshly against the Homeland Security Department's similar labor system also was made up of one Democratic and two GOP appointees. It was anchored by senior judge and Carter appointee Harry Edwards, an expert in the field of public sector labor relations.

Meanwhile, Defense officials continue to move forward in implementing the National Security Personnel System for nonbargaining unit employees. On Thursday, the Pentagon released survey results from the first 11,000 employees who entered the NSPS in April.

The survey, completed a month after the first group entered NSPS, showed that employees in the system were more satisfied with opportunities for promotion, quality of co-workers and supervisors, leadership and compensation than their non-NSPS civilian counterparts. Respondents also were found to be almost twice as likely to think that communication between supervisors and employees and the hiring process will improve under NSPS.

The Pentagon would not provide any further details of the survey methodology -- including response rates -- or the findings.

Union representatives expressed doubts about the study. Matt Biggs, spokesman for the coalition of Defense unions that banded together to fight NSPS, said because the compensation is the same for these employees in the first year, there is no reason they should be dissatisfied.

Ron Ault, president of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, called the survey "propaganda." He said most of those in the first group are human resources and management employees who already were working under demonstration projects similar to NSPS.

The online survey, called the Status of Forces Survey-Civilian, will be conducted every six months by the Defense Manpower Data Center. The next survey is scheduled for November, after the first performance reviews are completed under NSPS.