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Washington, D.C.-A lengthy analysis by the government's General Accounting Office (GAO) of compensation matters affecting the Customs Service strongly underscores the position of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) that efforts to cut the pay of Customs officers would damage the agency's ability to carry out its vital missions of facilitating trade and travel and interdicting illegal drugs.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said the GAO report, which focuses on the impact of possible changes in night pay for agency employees who guard the nation's borders in 24 hour-a-day operations, shows that any savings "would be far surpassed by the negative impact" on employee morale and the ability of Customs to staff border locations effectively.

The GAO report studied scheduling and financial data from five ports and concluded that legislative changes proposed in the last Congress would have resulted in a pay cut for 97 percent of the nearly 1,400 Customs officers at those ports. Officers at two of the largest ports of entry-John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and Los Angeles International Airport-would have been particularly hard-hit, the report said.

Kelley said the GAO report showed that of the 464 officers who earn night differential pay at JFK, 326 of them would lose more than $1,000 a year. At the same time, 132 of these officers would lose more than $3,000 annually, and 65 of them would lose more than $4,000 a year, the GAO report said.

In a lengthy letter to GAO on the issue, Kelley said the House version would have resulted in pay cuts-"plain and simple." Inspectors would be performing the same work, within the same time frames, and receive less money for that work, she said.

The NTEU leader said "a much better course" would be for Congress to ensure adequate funding for Customs, which would allow it to pay its employees appropriately and to hire additional personnel as needed.

The 1999 House-passed Customs legislation containing the provisions that would have cut officers' pay failed to become law when the Senate refused to agree.

Congress made significant changes to the Customs compensation system in 1993, Kelley noted, with particular emphasis on helping the agency establish work schedules that meet the needs and demands of customers, including commercial shippers and passengers. "The GAO report shows that night differential pay is a successful and essential part of the compensation package," she said.

NTEU represents more than 12,000 Customs employees, including inspectors and canine enforcement officers, who work frequently changing, irregular shifts and whose work weeks routinely total 56 hours and more.

These employees, and others including import specialists and support personnel, carry out the Customs mission at more than 300 U.S. land, sea and airports and other locations, processing more than $1 trillion in trade every year, along with more than 480 million passengers. Customs

generates more revenue than any government agency, except the Internal Revenue Service.

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