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Washington, D.C.-Higher pay in the form of "special salary rates" for three classifications of federal information technology (IT) workers in grades 5 through 12 is "a good short-term tool" to help the government attract and retain the computer professionals it needs now and over the next few years, the head of the nation's largest independent union of federal workers said today.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) applauded the announcement by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that, effective January 1, 2001, it would help agencies address "significant problems" in recruiting and retaining IT employees by authorizing higher pay for certain computer-related specialties.

In all, some 33,000 entry- and developmental-level federal IT workers in classifications GS-334 (computer specialist), GS-854 (computer engineer) and GS-1550 (computer scientist) from grades 5 through 12 will get the special rate pay. When combined with the likely federal general schedule pay increase of 3.7 percent for 2001, their net pay boost will range between 7 and 33 percent, OPM said.

The agency said its study determined that salaries in these IT jobs, classifications and grades "lag far behind non-federal salaries at these levels."

Kelley called the action "a good step toward addressing part of the problem," noting that a separate, earlier study in conjunction with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) modernization efforts showed the likelihood of a shortage of IT professionals in the IRS in coming years unless remedial steps are taken.

OPM also said it will establish special rates at GS-13 to prevent Apay administration anomalies,@ but said that since GS-13 employees will be entitled to higher locality pay, they will not receive a pay increase as a result of the new special rates.

Even as Kelley applauded the OPM decision, she emphasized that the long-term answer to attracting people to government service, and retaining them, is to close the gap between public and private sector pay.

"While the focus today is information technology workers," Kelley said, "the focus could be as well attorneys in the Securities & Exchange Commission, customer service employees at the IRS, Customs inspectors to facilitate trade and interdict drugs, and the list goes on. The long-term answer is to close the pay gap, so people will be attracted to government service, and remain in that service."

Specifically, she said the government needs to move toward full implementation of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA), which became effective in 1994 in establishing locality pay to compensate for regional cost differentials. The idea behind FEPCA was to close, in stages over 10 years, the public-private pay gap, but the law has never been implemented as the legislation intended.

"The gap is real, and widening," Kelley said, "and in a competitive labor market, such as we have had for some time, it acts as a real impediment to federal agencies in their efforts to hire and retain the best people."

NTEU represents more than 155,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments.