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Federal Daily News

Unions of two minds on proposed pay increase

A news report suggesting that the president’s fiscal 2013 budget would allow the two-year federal civilian pay freeze to expire on schedule—and give feds a 0.5 percent pay increase—drew a mixed response from federal employee unions.

The Washington Post reported the story on Jan. 6.

“The good news is that the pay freeze is ending,” National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley said in a statement, “but I am disappointed at the size of the proposed 2013 increase.”

The union said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Index—which is used to measure wage growth—reflected annual wage growth increases of 1.4 percent, l.6 percent and 1.7 percent over the past three years for the private sector.

“I believe something more reflective of private-sector increases would have been more fair and appropriate” for federal workers in 2013, Kelley said.

National Federation of Federal Employees National President William Dougan issued a statement expressing satisfaction that administration planned to lift the pay freeze in 2013, but said the union “would have preferred a larger increase as prescribed by law.”

At the same time, Dougan nonetheless welcomed the increase as an acknowledgment of “the magnitude of federal employees’ sacrifice in recent years …”

American Federation of Government Employees National President John Gage was less conciliatory.

“After freezing federal employee’s salaries for two years, the Obama administration is proposing a miniscule half-percentage point increase in their wages next year,” Gage said in a statement. “It’s less than half of the 1.2 percent nationwide adjustment employees are entitled to next year under the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act, which was signed into law by the first President Bush in 1990.”

Gage said the budget proposal “also effectively freezes locality pay for another year," and that the increase “is well below the rate of inflation of 3.6 percent, and will be wiped out by higher costs for health care, groceries and other essential needs.”

Nonetheless, Gage said, “we’re hopeful that this is a positive step that spells an end to the barrage of attacks on pay and benefits for working people and serves as an acknowledgement that attacking the jobs we have won’t create the new jobs we need.”


 

Reader comments

Mon, Jun 4, 2012

I read with great interest the comments about retirement plans....CSRS; FERS; and CSRS Offset. Everybody seems to think that Federal employees make lots and lots of money......GS12's and up make the money and let's not forget CONGRESS. Why doesn't Congress take a reduction in they salary and give it to the rest of us. Congress makes the money along with GS14's and up. Or better yet....reduce the salary for Congress and give the difference to offset the deficet.

Fri, May 25, 2012

in regards to FERS vs CSRS; when FERS came out it was touted to our facility as better than CSRS; reading thru the fine print it would be if FERS folks put more of their money into the program. Also when folks applied for a government job knew they were applying for FERS and knew what that program meant. It is what it is. If there were better retirement systems outside the government they should have applied there; not with the government where they want to complain about retirement systems. I myself am covered under CSRS and am glad it was available for me when i started.

Thu, Feb 2, 2012

I'm a federal employee who would love any pay raise that comes my way. But you entitlement whiners are pathetic. If you don't like your pay and benefits go somewhere else to work. If the private sector gets better raises then go work in the private sector. The day my pay and benefits drop below what i can get somewhere else, I'm walking. Of course I work my tail off here and am very employable outside the agency.. I'm not sure everyone has that going for them.. You want more retirement then go get it. Also that football player probably gets taxed enough on his one game to pay for your salary for a year. Thank the Lord there are those like him that make that kind of money for you and I can have a job. Also if you envy those GS-14 people that have a fancy car and vacation home, then do an outstanding job at your GS-7 position and work your way up... Excuses are for loosers people and i know your better than that.

Tue, Jan 24, 2012

It's amazing to see how a CSRS employees wants the tax deduction when they already get way more than a FERS emplyee for retirement. They get 7-8 percent taken from their check for CSRS retirement and we get almost the same amount for SS. If law enforcedment they get 2.5 percent a year for the first 20 years and 2 percent every year after 20. Fers get 1.7 percent a year for the first 20 and 1 percent every year after. After a 30 year career CSRS get 70 percent and FERS get .44 percent plus a SS Supplement that they want to take away of maybe a 1,000 a month that could possible get a FERS reitment up to 56 percent. For a FERS employee to make up the differenece that have to contribute to TSP, thus reducing their spendible income by 10% or more that CSRS does not and can use the additional 10% to live on that FERS can't. If I was offered to switch to CSRS and give up all of my matching funds, I would do it without hesitation. We are already paying much more of our salary to try to match what CSRS gets without any additional funds from their pay. We are already bled dry with taxes, retaxed every year on property, income, sales, employment, Social Security, Medicare and every increasing cost of healthcare, insurance of every kind and no pay increase. Please leave us alone. We are already lucky to see 60 percent of our income to pay for food, housing, education, etc. We already make peanunts compared to sports jocks that get paid more in one game than we make all year. Please don't lump in all the doctors and lawyers with the rest of the federal employess that do not make the big money as averaage federal pay. Doctor's and Lawyers are not average federal employees's so please don't include their salary in with average Federal Employees wage.

Sun, Jan 22, 2012 Robert

Even if they froze federal pay for 1,000 years, Congress would still complain that federal workers were making more than the average hobo in 3012. Ideologue trumps logic, facts and common sense every time. What really should be compared is the fact that the average CEO makes 200 times the salary that working Americans do. That's the real crime, but the rich spend a LOT of money telling Congress what to do and who to blame, which are... federal employees!

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