But also no when we are constantly being reminded of the role of contractors in the whole force concept. And when one element of that whole force has repeatedly gone above and beyond and has been on a pay freeze (cut) for several consecutive years whilst another element is widely and regularly noted for the lack of quality and poor value for money and yet still demands pay rises, there is a higher level presentational issue here. And in that light, ISS won't do themeselves any favours in the eyes of a large proportion of the serving military who have to live on base and put up with what restricted offerings are available.
But if you (or anyone) are going to start screaming 'rank and file' then a comparisson needs to be drawn to ISS' 'rank and file', not to decisions/policies laid down by ISS' management.
Simple fact is that ISS is a private company and it's 'rank and file' are allowed, by law, to join and be represented by a union. In this case the 'rank and file', through their union, have decided this profit making private company has not offered a wage increase in line with what they, the 'rank and file', believe is acceptable and therefore are threatening to withdraw their labour, a quite legal and well-estabilished possibility within unionised labour forces.
Whether you agree with employees (or 'rank and file') of private sector businesses (defense-related or otherwise) having the ability to strike over grievances related to working conditions is moot, it is something they are allowed to do.
Should they do it? I believe they have a good case to but hey, I'm one of those horrible socialists you've heard about, complete with union (well RCN) card of my own, you'd need to make up your own mind. In my humble opinion though "they work for the military and the military haven't had a pay rise" is a bad start.
As for the policy of contractorisation, yes I think it has its flaws and would much rather see such services controlled directly by the state (no suprises there!) but the concept is not a recent one, indeed in various parts of the military its been going on for hundreds of years. What has perhaps changed though is the military's ability to control said contractors sufficiently with it seeming that oversight has been lost.