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NTEU’s Kelley Says Proposed 2003 Federal Pay Raise Virtually Ignores Recruiting And Retention Problems

Press Release February 4, 2002

Washington, D.C.—The low and unrealistic 2.6 percent pay raise proposed for federal civilian workers in the administration’s 2003 budget fails to recognize, much less begin to address, the government’s need to compete for the nation’s best workers, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said “experts both within government and outside of it keep emphasizing the human capital crisis affecting federal agencies. We keep talking about the importance of higher pay in addressing this range of problems, and yet, by our budget decisions, we continue to act as though these issues will either simply disappear or fix themselves. They will do neither.”

In just one of its own documents supporting the budget, Kelley said, the administration took note that the Treasury Department “is facing many human capital-related questions,” including how to deal with an aging workforce—10 percent of which is eligible to retire now, a figure rising to 30 percent in five years. “We cannot continue to ignore the fundamental issue in recruitment and retention—the need for higher pay,” the NTEU leader said.

President Kelley also took aim at the failure of the Bush budget to include money to fund pay parity at the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), in line with legislation signed into law only last month. “A

proven case was made for SEC pay parity, and the issue enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress.” Kelley said. “At NTEU, we intend to press the agency to fulfill its obligation to implement a pay parity program.”

The NTEU president also criticized the administration for its continued insistence that taxpayers are better served by increasingly contracting out the functions of government to the private sector.

“There is not only no proof that contracting out is an advantage,” Kelley said, “there is ample evidence that it often results in a waste of taxpayer money for work of questionable quality.” At some six million, the number of contractors is more than three times the size of the federal workforce.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments.

Contact: NTEU-PR@NTEU.org, 202-572-5500