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Washington, D.C. — While the likely passage of the Continuing Resolution (CR) introduced this week will spare employees the eleventh hour threat of a government shutdown, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) will continue to press for enactment of individual appropriations bills with higher agency funding levels and a retroactive pay raise during the lame duck session.
“It remains disappointing that the measure to fund the government from Oct. 1 through March 27 continues the pay freeze for federal workers while the CR is in effect,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, noting that following the November election, the union will press to make the raise retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013.
The bill, which is necessary because Congress has not passed agency specific appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2013 which begins Oct. 1, will fund federal agencies at FY 2012 levels plus 0.6 percent with very few exceptions. The bill also provides that a federal employee pay raise of 0.5 percent may take effect the first full pay period after March 27. The House is expected to approve the CR this week and the Senate soon after.
“While it appears that the CR will be passed and a government shutdown threat will be averted, the funding levels set for federal agencies are inadequate in the long term, particularly for the Internal Revenue Service, which has seen deep budget cuts, and should be addressed during the lame duck session of Congress,” Kelley said.
For the IRS, NTEU will press for the additional funding as provided for in the Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.
The NTEU president said she was pleased to see that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was given latitude in the CR to shift funding from within the agency to ensure that current staffing levels for CBP Officers and Border Patrol Agents are maintained. CBP suffers from a serious staffing shortage at seaports, airports and land border crossings.
Kelley also welcomed the continuation of a moratorium on A-76 competitions in the bill.
As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.