Clinton screws federal workers

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sun Dec 3 15:16:13 PST 2000


From: "Nathan Newman" <nathan.newman at yale.edu> Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 13:19:17 -0500

Just to feed the opposition argument on why Clinton-DLC folks are in fact scum, here in the name of equal time is a recent article on Clinton screwing federal workers on pay. -- NN ======================================

Federal Employees Get Raise

By DEB RIECHMANN

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - About 1.8 million of the federal government's civilian

workers will get a 3.7 percent pay increase, President Clinton has decided,

and not the 15 percent boost they could have gotten under a formula intended

to keep federal pay levels in line with those in the private sector.

Clinton said giving government workers the 15 percent increase would be a

risky step away from budgetary discipline. A union official representing

government employees called Clinton's reasoning ``absurd.''

Under the law, most federal civilian employees are to receive a 2.7 percent

base salary increase in January. In addition, they are entitled to a pay

adjustment that aims to close the wage gap between federal and

private-sector

workers.

That would bring the total increase to 15 percent, but the Clinton

administration believes there are flaws in the formula that's used to

compute

this wage gap adjustment.

Clinton, therefore, decided on the 3.7 percent pay raise - the base salary

increase plus a 1 percent adjustment in the differential based on where the

employee lives.

Bobby Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees,

the largest federal workers' union, said limiting the increase to 3.7

percent

guarantees that the federal government will be an employer of last resort

for

the nation's most qualified workers. This, coupled with increases in health

insurance premiums, aggravates the government's problem recruiting and

retaining employees, he said.

``To add insult to injury,'' Harnage said, ``the president conjures up the

bizarre argument that obeying the law, and allowing the 15 percent pay

increase to go forward, would seriously disadvantage private sector

employers

and 'shock' the labor markets.''

``This argument is absurd,'' he said.

The law gives the president discretion to determine the size of the pay

raise. Clinton said a 15 percent increase would disrupt labor markets,

prompt

private firms to raise their wages and possibly trigger inflation.

In a letter to the House and Senate that the White House released Friday,

Clinton said such a large raise also would pose problems for federal

agencies

already under pressure to meet their budgets.

``The budgetary restraint that produced the current budget surpluses must be

maintained if we are to keep the budget sound into the retirement years of

the baby-boom generation,'' Clinton wrote. ``Therefore, I have determined

that the total civilian raise of 3.7 percent that I proposed in my 2001

budget remains appropriate. This raise matches the 3.7 percent basic pay

increase that I proposed for military members.''

Harnage disputes the president's rationale.

``Putting an end to shortchanging federal workers does not hurt the labor

market, or private firms,'' he said. ``It merely restores the dignity of

federal employment and some of the lost purchasing power of federal salaries

since 1973. It simply cannot have anything other than a positive impact on

the economy.''

_______________________________________________________

Tired of slow Internet? Get @Home Broadband Internet

http://www.home.com/xinbox/signup.html

GANGBOX: CONSTRUCTION WORKERS NEWS SERVICE

GANGBOX homepage:

http://www.GeoCities.com/gangbox/

comments? email: <gangbox at excite.com>

"UNION NOW, UNION FOREVER"

_______________________________________________________ Tired of slow Internet? Get @Home Broadband Internet http://www.home.com/xinbox/signup.html

-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/1/_/505707/_/975863164/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

To unsubscribe from this list, go to the ONElist web site, at

www.onelist.com, and select the User Center link from the menu bar

on the left. Questions or any other inquiries should be directed to malin_B at bls.gov or rjmalin32 at aol.com (preferably both) --------------------------------------- Earn a dime every time you receive email! Sign up FREE at: http://www.MintMail.com/?m=1507 --------------------------------------- Tired of failing? Me too. http://www.fullcirclesuccess.com/?227089



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list