AFGE Activist,
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the human resources arm for the federal government. They serve as the chief agency and personnel policy manager for all of the agencies that comprise the entire federal workforce. They ensure that the human resources leadership and support to these federal agencies are carried out effectively and help the federal workforce achieve their aspirations as they serve the American people.
The key components of OPM are the human resources and employee management services, the administering of retirement benefits, the management of healthcare and insurance programs as well as the oversight and compliance of merit system principles which are all governed under federal laws and regulations.
Through a new report drafted and disguised as collaboration among stakeholders, including employee unions, corporate interests are pushing policy makers to abolish OPM and contract out the agency’s important personnel functions. The new report, titled "Recommendations to Congress and the Administration, Transforming the Governance of Federal Human Capital Management, Creating Capacity to Enable Effective Change," was issued July 16 by the Senior Executives Association (SEA) and Center for Organizational Excellence (COE). It offers 3 recommendations and 16 actions.
But before discussing the content of the report – recommendations to abolish OPM cloaked in vague corporate doublespeak – let’s review some facts about it and how it came about.
- The report was paid for by commercial interests, whose names were not even disclosed until the report was in its final stages and ready for publication.
- Among the sponsors were Grant Thornton and allegedly Deloitte whose businesses provide human resources, consulting, and information technology services.
The Trump administration wants to dismantle OPM and politicize the civil service – and they are setting OPM up to fail. Instead of contracting out work from OPM, enriching contractors, and destroying our civil service, we ought to take that same money and make the needed investments in OPM so government workers have the resources and infrastructure needed to perform their duties effectively.
In Solidarity,
AFGE
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