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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today applauded the bipartisanship reflected in congressional approval Saturday of a 3.5 percent pay raise in 2005 for federal civilian workers.

The 3.5 percent raise, contained in Omnibus Appropriations legislation, is two percentage points higher than the 1.5 percent raise the administration proposed and supported for members of the federal civilian workforce.

“The higher raise would not have been possible without strong bipartisan understanding in Congress of the importance to federal agencies of competitive pay,” said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley. As it does every year, and in particular as it has over the past four years, NTEU worked tirelessly—including grassroots efforts by NTEU members and chapters around the country—to build bipartisan support for a fair pay raise for federal civilian workers.

“Members of Congress have come to understand that a high-quality civilian workforce in federal agencies means high-quality service to the American people,” President Kelley said. “They also have come to understand that federal agencies are in a serious and continuing competition with the private sector for talented, dedicated employees—and they know it’s a competition agencies can ill afford to lose.”

In each of the past four years, the administration’s proposed budget has contained a higher raise for members of the military than for civilian workers. NTEU has consistently supported the higher raise for both vital groups of federal employees, and has worked successfully to build a bipartisan consensus in Congress for continuing the long tradition of parity in civilian-military pay increases.

Members of Congress of both parties from locations such as Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, where there are large numbers of federal civilian workers, have been especially active in helping forge the bipartisan consensus on federal pay.

As the largest independent union of federal workers, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.