Sample Media Advisory

Hundreds of Civilian Defense Workers to Protest Proposed Personnel System

MEDIA ADVISORY CONTACT: NAME
DATE PHONE

WHAT: Town Hall Meeting/Rally/March/Etc.

WHERE:

WHEN:

(CITY, STATE)—Hundreds of FACILITY NAME (e.g. Tinker Air Force Base or Rock Island Arsenal) civilian defense workers will protest a recently unveiled and completely redesigned proposed personnel system for the Department of Defense. American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local __ has organized a town hall meeting for the workers of FACILITY NAME (OPTIONAL LANGUAGE IF YOU HAVE A GUEST SUCH AS A MEMBER OF CONGRESS : and will be joined by GUEST NAME _ who will hear worker concerns. ) Union officials argue that the changes would put national security at risk by rendering whistleblower protections meaningless and lowering morale. The proposed system would revoke most due process rights and allow supervisors significant control over workplace conditions like pay, schedules, and deployment.

"How will the new personnel rules for the Department of Defense serve the American public? This new system gives DoD every means possible to put the squeeze on employees and shut up potential whistleblowers. Defense workers will be too afraid to speak out against corruption and wrongdoing because they will have no protection from reprisals," stated Don Hale, a civilian defense worker at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and president of AFGE's DEFCON, which represents DoD workers nationally.

"We support our troops every day," Hale continued . "We supported our troops over the decades, during times of war, peace and throughout the Cold War. Americans used to joke about Russians being shipped off to Siberia under the Communist regime. Now I could suffer a similar fate for speaking out against this horrendous new system that fails to make America safer."

AFGE plans to file a lawsuit in federal court that challenges the new work rules on a statutory basis. AFGE will be joined in the lawsuit by the Association of Civilian Technicians (ACT), the Laborers International Union, the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE).

Defense workers have rallied against the impending personnel changes since Congress passed legislation, in late 2003, at the request of the Bush Administration, authorizing the Secretary of Defense to redesign the DoD personnel system. The law grants the Secretary of Defense new authority in many areas including the civil service system, pay, appeal rights, and collective bargaining agreements.

Last year, DoD employees held town hall meetings and demonstrations against the changes on dozens of sites including Fort Hood ( Tex. ), Davis Monthan AFB ( Ariz. ), Warner Robins AFB ( Ga. ), Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (N.H.), Redstone Arsenal ( Ala. ), outside the Norfolk ( Va. ), Dover AFB ( Del. ) and Rock Island Arsenal ( Ill. ).

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The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the nation's largest federal employee union representing 600,000 federal and D.C. government workers nationwide and overseas.

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