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Washington, D.C.—

The leader of the nation's largest independent union of federal workers applauded action taken today by a Senate subcommittee that would provide federal civilian employees with a 3.5 percent pay increase in 2005 and overturn unfair revisions to the rules that govern contracting out of federal work to an unaccountable private sector.

"There is a growing bipartisan majority in Congress which recognizes that federal employees deserve pay parity with the military and a level playing field in the face of this administration's continuing ill-advised policy of opening up government work to a private sector that is unaccountable to our nation's taxpayers," said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

The recognition of the value of federal employees came today as the Senate appropriations subcommittee marked up the Transportation-Treasury spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year, which included, with bipartisan accord, the 3.5 percent pay increase for civilian federal employees.

A bipartisan majority also approved an amendment to the legislation, offered by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), which effectively overturns massive revisions made last year by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the rules that govern the contracting out of federal work, known as Circular A-76.

The subcommittee action on pay comes despite the administration's demand, contained in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2005, that federal civilian employees receive only a 1.5 percent pay raise in 2005. The higher raise continues the long-standing tradition of parity in pay raises for the two groups of federal workers. NTEU has been a strong supporter of the higher raise for both federal civilian employees and members of the military.

NTEU has also been a leader in the fight against the administration's re-write of the contracting out rules which eliminate virtually all substantive rights of front-line employees to compete for their jobs and stack competitions in favor of the private sector.

The NTEU leader thanked Sen. Mikulski for her leadership in working to overturn the administration's revision of Circular A-76. Her amendment would prohibit appropriated funds from being used to implement the revised circular. Both NTEU and Sen. Mikulski have long advocated throwing out the current circular in favor of new guidelines that present a level playing field for federal workers.

This is a very positive development for federal employees and their agencies as the government continues its efforts to attract and retain the high-quality workforce American citizens expect and deserve, Kelley said, noting that the subcommittee's votes reflect similar bipartisan actions taken in the House on the issues of pay and contracting out.

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