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Washington, D.C.—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today welcomed action by the Senate in approving a continuing resolution containing an average 3.9 percent pay raise for federal civilian employees in 2009.

“When you consider all of the important contributions federal employees make each day to the country, this is clearly the right thing to do,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “A fair pay raise for federal workers will ensure agencies have the high-quality employees the public expects and needs, especially in these challenging times.”

On Wednesday, the House passed the continuing resolution that would fund government agencies at fiscal 2008 levels through March 6 and would provide federal employees with an average 3.9 percent pay increase beginning in January. Earlier this year, the White House proposed a raise of 2.9 percent for federal civilian employees.

“Senate action brings federal employees one important step closer to a well-deserved pay raise in January and significantly diminishes the need for further action that would delay the pay raise, and cause additional and unnecessary expenses for federal agencies,” Kelley said.

The pay raise contained in the continuing resolution would be effective Jan. 1, 2009. In years past, when a delayed pay raise was approved by Congress in stages, legislation was required to make it retroactive to the first full pay period in January. That both delayed receipt of the money by federal employees, and forced agencies to reprogram their computers to reflect the changing payroll numbers.

As does the House-approved version, the Senate-passed continuing resolution includes full fiscal 2009 Defense, Military Construction-VA and Homeland Security bills.

One NTEU-supported provision dealing with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calls for an additional 1,373 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers, an increase of 834 beyond the number requested by the administration.

“Staffing levels at our airports, land border crossings and seaports must be increased to ensure CBP can meet its mission of securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws,” Kelley said.

Two other NTEU-backed provisions provide $200 million for the CBP enhanced retirement benefit secured late last year by NTEU in a major legislative victory, and prohibit DHS from implementing a new personnel system.

On the matter of the enhanced retirement benefit, the administration proposed to repeal that provision, but was rebuffed by Congress, which recognizes the importance of it to CBP’s continuing recruitment and retention efforts for this critical law enforcement agency.

Meanwhile, the prohibition against funding a new personnel system prevents DHS from installing a regressive system which included a pay-for-performance system.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.