Letters

Depends on The Definition

"The Perfect Candidate" (July 1) helps those of us currently in nonpolicy-setting positions to see that we are not voices in the wilderness. It is truly refreshing to know that there are many in federal recruitment policy offices who have recognized the inherent problems associated with the rampant and systemic inbreeding (internal hiring) that is occurring in the mid- to upper-GS grades within far, far too many federal organizations.

To make one clarification concerning The Partnership for Public Service's assertion that government agencies in 2003 filled 15.3 percent of positions from GS-12 to GS-15 with "outside" hires, the definition of outside hire is key. Many agencies cite and claim an "external" hire merely because that person was not, at the time of the hiring action, an employee within the hiring agency. But if analyzed more closely, the majority of these purported external hires were either prior GS employees of the same hiring agency, recently retired or discharged active-duty military members of the same hiring agency, or prior contract employees of the same hiring agency. Is that a genuine external hire? I and legions of others think not. Agencies and U.S. taxpayers simply deserve better than that.

Mixed Bag

As a longtime federal employee and a manager within the Defense and Interior departments, I have seen mixed-bag results in dealing with unions ("Union Busters," June 15). This runs the spectrum from agencies where the union is rarely involved (at the union's choice), to my current agency, where the union wants to apparently bargain everything, including such more trivial issues as desk assignments and minor systems furniture reconfigurations. It also appears that unions, at times, can champion a lost-cause employee or some other more minor item, pursuing an apparent personal vendetta with management instead of representing the bargaining unit membership as a whole for the good of the agency.

While I realize that unions have a role in ensuring personnel are not put in bad situations, my concern is that unions seem to at times forget that we all have a job to do and a mandate to be good stewards of the public's money. When union leaders fail to bargain in good faith and tie up time and resources making unreasonable or unsubstantiated complaints, it simply increases inefficiency of the organization as a whole.

Corrections

The July 1 Outlook column said Herbert Hoover was the former head of the FBI. It was J. Edgar Hoover. The article also said President Reagan pardoned Mark Felt in 1980. The correct year is 1981.