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Washington, D.C.—The “pay increase and respect” that Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Harvey Pitt says he so badly needs is being denied front-line employees at his own agency, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley said today.

Amid recent widespread media reports that SEC Chairman Pitt has requested elevated status among federal agency heads for himself, along with a 21 percent pay raise, Kelley said that negotiations over a pay system to bring the pay of SEC employees in line with other federal financial regulatory agencies, as required by law, have broken down and are being ignored.

“Chairman Pitt has the power to make higher pay and respect a reality for employees. Instead the SEC has unilaterally implemented a pro-management pay parity plan at the expense of front-line employees. There was never any meaningful effort on the part of the SEC to deal fairly with employees. The irony of Mr. Pitt’s request for more pay and respect is not lost on those responsible for policing the nation’s corporations,” said Kelley.

The failure of the SEC to commit to meaningful negotiations over pay parity forced NTEU to seek mediation assistance from the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), said Kelley. The request for assistance has been pending before the panel for nearly two months.

Kelley said the overriding issue for NTEU is fairness. The salaries of NTEU-represented employees comprise approximately 60 percent of the SEC salary budget, she said. That is the percentage the union has sought of the some $25 million identified by the SEC for pay parity in the current fiscal year. Instead the SEC unilaterally implemented a pay parity plan that provides front-line workers with only about 40 percent of available funds.

The union leader said the SEC pro-management pay parity plan also would replace the current merit-based performance evaluation system with a system that provides management with far-reaching power to determine employees’ pay raises.

“Under the SEC’s pro-management system, managers would no longer have the responsibility to base pay raises on merit principles. The merit-based civil service system would be turned on its head. Managers at any of three levels above an employee would have ironclad, non-reviewable veto power when it comes to deciding who gets a raise and who doesn’t. Cronyism and favoritism is no substitute for merit-based pay raises,” said Kelley.

Whether the deadlocked pay parity talks will be revived rests mainly with SEC Chairman Pitt, said Kelley, with NTEU prepared at any time to renew negotiations that hold the promise of meaningful dialogue, including a look at alternatives to the pro-management pay plan implemented by the SEC.

“Chairman Pitt does not have to wait for the FSIP to get around to reviewing this case and making a decision. NTEU stands prepared to help the chairman deliver to front-line SEC employees the pay and respect they deserve—the pay and respect that can help the SEC become an employer of choice. Pay and respect is important, as Chairman Pitt knows,” said Kelley.

NTEU represents some 2,000 SEC employees. NTEU is the nation’s largest independent federal sector union, representing some 150,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments.