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The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers said today she is “disappointed, but not surprised” by the administration’s failure to propose civilian-military pay parity in its 2006 budget blueprint.

The budget plan, made public today, calls for pay raises next year of 3.1 percent for members of the military and 2.3 percent for federal civilian workers. NTEU supports the higher raise for both groups of federal employees.

“Pay parity is an important concept,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). “It sends a message to federal employees that their dedicated efforts are valued and appreciated.”

In addition, she said, making sure employee contributions are recognized with a fair pay raise “is vital to the efforts of federal agencies to retain the experienced workers they have and recruit the quality job-seekers that are so important to the accomplishment of agency missions.”

While expressing her pleasure with the early and growing support in both the House and Senate for pay parity, President Kelley warned that “federal employees should not be under any illusions about the difficulty of achieving pay parity” for next year. With this kind of a tight budget, she said, there will be great pressure from the administration for Congress to hold to its proposal.

Given the budget constraints stemming from the administration’s tax-cut policies, she said there likely there will be “a year-long fight” to achieve civilian-military pay parity in 2006.

Less than a week ago, bipartisan resolutions calling for civilian-military pay parity were introduced in both the House and Senate—actions that followed by only a matter of days a letter from key members of the House to President Bush urging pay parity in 2006.

There is a growing and substantial understanding in Congress of the importance of fair federal pay and civilian-military pay parity, Kelley said, taking note of a rare stand-alone vote by the House last year to reiterate its longstanding support for pay parity. The vote was an overwhelming 299 to 126 in support.

The NTEU leader also noted the willingness of pro-federal employee legislators to work with the administration on modifying the methodology used by the government to determine the competitiveness of public and private pay. Kelley called such possibilities, under the umbrella of the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA), “a step in the right direction.”

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