Federal Daily - March 6, 2008
NTEU Members Meet, Urge Pay Raise
More than 300 National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) members met in Washington this week to develop
a legislative agenda that will include calls for a higher pay raise and a halt in the privatization
of federal jobs. Among its priority issues, NTEU is pressing for a 3.9 percent pay raise for federal
civilian employees in Fiscal Year 2009—1 percent greater than the White House’s proposal—and
a stop to the private contracting of federal jobs. Also, members will be seeking more affordable health
insurance through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program by seeking an increase in the government’s
share of the premium. And, the union wants a repeal or substantial reduction of the Social Security
offsets that can financially harm federal retirees and their families. “As important as each
of these issues is in its own right, taken together they form just the starting point for an aggressive
year-long legislative effort that includes NTEU chapters and members throughout the country,” NTEU
President Colleen Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1225.
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GAO: Most Frequent User of Premium Travel Lacked Proper Authorization
In the wake of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on government-wide abuses of premium
class air travel released last September, GAO on Feb. 29 issued a management letter reviewing the travel
activities of Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC)—the government’s most frequent user of premium
class travel. MCC, a U.S. government corporation which provides assistance to poor countries, spent
about 77 percent of its air travel total on premium class travel, compared to the overall government-wide
average of about 7 percent. GAO looked at 36 MCC premium class air travel arrangements where federal
employees flew on official business on flights occurring prior to February 2006. Although MCC defended
the flights as justified, GAO found that none were properly authorized or justified. Another 15 flight
arrangements after February 2006 that GAO audited also lacked adequate justification. MCC claimed the
first class arrangements were justified under the 14-hour rule, which says that employees qualify to
use premium class travel for flights exceeding 14 hours if they had no rest stop en route or rest period
at their destination. However, on 20 of the 36 flights GAO examined, travelers arrived at their destination
on a weekend without providing documentation that they reported to work before incurring a rest period.
To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-08-468R.
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VA to Train More Psychologists
To meet the anticipated increased demand for mental health services for veterans, the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) announced March 4 that it was is expanding its training programs for psychologists.
VA, which has more than 11,000 mental health professionals to care for veterans, has hired more than
800 psychologists in the last three years. VA said it has worked with partners at professional schools
and universities to increase the number of psychologists who receive training through VA programs each
year. The new positions will include 61 internship and 98 post-doctoral fellowship slots, bringing
the national number of training positions in psychology to 620 per year. The new internship programs
are at: Anchorage, Alaska; Asheville, N.C.; Iowa City, Iowa; and Richmond, Va. To see more, go
to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1462.
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