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Federal Daily News

Senate rejects pay freeze extension measure


The Senate on March 13 rejected an amendment to a surface transportation bill that would have extended the federal civilian pay freeze for a third year.

Lawmakers voted down the amendment to S. 1813 in a 57-41 roll-call vote. The measure, submitted last week by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), would have extended the current two-year pay freeze through the end of 2013, and used the savings it generated to offset the costs of other measures in the bill.

The National Treasury Employees Union, one of several federal employee unions that aggressively opposed the amendment, was quick to congratulate the Senate for turning down the measure.

“Rejecting this amendment is clear evidence that many members of the Senate understand the need for shared sacrifice among every group in our society, rather than turning to federal employees for even greater contributions, especially to fund matters unrelated to the federal workforce,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in a statement.

The union was one of several which sent letters to members of the Senate opposing the amendment. NTEU said the measure, if it had passed, “would have taken another $26 billion from federal employees” on top of wages already lost because of the two-year freeze.


 

Reader comments

Tue, Mar 20, 2012

Maybe our Congressmen should look at taking a cut in their wages. I'm sure they all earn more than a GS-7 who works 40 hours a week all year long and earns between $38,790 - $50,431 before withholding and without any expense account. They could look at a set hourly wage increase for Federal workers instead of the percent that is usually given to save money on Government wages.

Thu, Mar 15, 2012

The congressmen supporting more pay freezes and retirement benefit cuts, etc do not seem to understand that 1) when appropriate comparisons are made by the job most Federal employees are not overpaid 2) we are both tax payers and consumers, so reducing our income is counter productive, 3) because most Federal workers still have jobs, we are supporting our family members who have lost their jobs, or are new college grads looking for their first job. Because of our feeling of stability with my job (>30 years), we have also used some of our savings to help our son start a new business, which now employees three people and more as it grows. If they cut or freeze my income again and with fuel and other items increasing in price, we will then have to start cutting back on our already conservative spending, which supports other local retail businesses and employees...

Thu, Mar 15, 2012 RicknATL

At least the senate has a bit of common sense and fairness. Unlike the house.

Wed, Mar 14, 2012 Oregon

Good news still happens. Thank you NTEU Colleen Kelly.

Wed, Mar 14, 2012 Vickie San Diego

Although I'm not part of a union, I thank Ms. Kelley for being an advocate for all federal employees. We've been the financial target long enough.

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