Grinding Out Opposition to Hiring Reform

Today the Obama administration's hiring reform proposal gets its first hearing on Capitol Hill, before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee. And that means the slow, grinding opposition to the parts of the proposal that don't sit well with employee organizations officially begins.

In his Federal Diary column today, Joe Davidson notes that the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union already have singled out two elements of the proposal they don't like: the shift away from the "rule of three" in determining who's eligible to be hired and what they view as insufficient aggressiveness in scaling back the Federal Career Intern Program.

The unions have one big advantage over the Obama team in this situation: They can afford to take the long view. Witness their effort to fight the Bush administration's National Security Personnel System. They gradually fought to undermine elements of the new system for years in Congress, and were willing to wait until Obama was elected to see it killed off.

So don't expect flashy, high-profile opposition to Obama's reform plan. Employee representatives and other defenders of the status quo have no interest in embarrassing an administration that is generally favorable to them. But they also have proven time and time again that they are willing to fight for as long as it takes to beat back systemic changes they oppose.

That means that the Obama administration has to be prepared to do some horse-trading to get what they really want. So don't be surprised if they give ground on FCIP to win on the rule of three and other elements of their plan.