Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.— The president of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees said today she appreciates action by the House in approving a budget resolution that calls for a 4.6 percent pay raise for federal civilian workers in 2002, and hopes the full Senate will take similar action.

At the same time, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) again expressed her concern about funding levels for federal agencies in the coming fiscal year.

“The House budget resolution follows much of the spending plan outlined by President Bush,” she said, “including an overall growth of four percent in discretionary spending.” She called that “a level insufficient to allow agencies to perform their missions on behalf of the American people, particularly since some agencies likely will face declines in their available funds.”

The NTEU president said failure to provide sufficient funding for an agency like the Internal Revenue Service, for example, where NTEU represents some 98,000 employees, “would stop the carefully-planned and executed modernization program of the past two years right in its tracks.”

The House budget resolution “is a very important and welcome step forward” in maintaining civilian-military pay parity, the NTEU leader said. President Bush has proposed a 4.6 percent pay raise for members of

the military in 2002, and while he has not said what he will propose for federal civilian employees, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has told agencies to use a 2002 raise of 3.6 percent as a budget planning tool.

There is considerable sentiment in Congress, Kelley noted, for continuing the tradition of military-civilian pay parity. “This action by the House is clear evidence of that,” she said, adding that Senate budget leaders have indicated their plans to take similar steps.

“First and foremost, pay parity is a matter of fairness,” Kelley said. “And it assumes even greater importance at a time like this, when agencies across government are concerned about their ability to attract and retain quality employees.” She noted that fully 53 percent of the federal workforce will be eligible for either regular or early retirement over the next few years.

In that regard, Kelley said, not only is fair and adequate pay a critical matter, but so is agency funding. “Federal employees are dedicated, talented men and women who want to serve their fellow Americans,” Kelley said. “If they see they cannot do that because Congress does not provide their agencies with the necessary funding, they will take their talent and dedication to the private sector, and that will be a loss for the nation.”

NTEU represents some 150,000 federal employees in 25 agencies and departments.