Federal Labor Unions Spread More Propaganda; Don't Believe the Lies
GOP Lawmakers Seek to Freeze Bonuses, Step Increases
Federal Times estimates that roughly 1.1 million GS employees would still receive more than $2.5 billion in step increase raises in 2011 and 2012.February 16, 2011
Government Executive - House lawmakers want to take the two-year civilian pay freeze a step further by canceling any increase in compensation this year.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Wednesday introduced an amendment to House spending legislation that would deny federal employees step increases allowed under the General Schedule. A similar amendment to the continuing resolution from Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., would prevent any appropriated funds from being used for federal employee salary increases.
President Obama in November announced a two-year pay freeze for all federal civilians, a provision supported in his fiscal 2012 budget proposal released on Monday. The president's freeze, however, would not apply to promotions, step increases or awards.
Union leaders on Wednesday expressed opposition to the amendments.
"Taking steps to deny federal employees salary adjustments to correspond with promotions and performance awards, the only means through which an employee can receive a pay raise over the next two years, exacerbates the financial strain already shouldered by these public servants," wrote Federal Managers Association National President Patricia Niehaus in a letter to lawmakers.
"Headlines painting feds as overpaid, underqualified and completely insulated from the recession score points through the promotion of falsehoods based on biased data manipulation. To see lawmakers latch onto these reports as 'fact' is truly disheartening."
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, called the amendments onerous and poorly-drafted. The proposals single out federal employees and would have a negative effect on government's recruitment and retention efforts, as well as agency missions, she said.
The proposals come on the heels of legislation aimed at freezing federal hiring. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., late last week introduced a bill that would reduce the size of the federal workforce by attrition, adding only one hire for every two employees who retire or leave government service.
Attacking Workforce Rumors: Union Creates 'Truth Squad'
February 10, 2011Federal Computer Week - There’s a lot being said about the federal workforce these days, and some of it is not entirely accurate. Or at least, the American Federation of Government Employees doesn't think so. Now AFGE is trying to clear up the misinformation in a new “Truth Squad” blog.
“Federal workers are under attack,” the labor union wrote in the blog’s first entry. “Lawmakers looking to score points with voters are trying to scapegoat federal employees by going after our wages, our benefits and even our jobs.”The entry continues by stating that the federal workers didn’t cause the nation’s economic woes.
“For every lie that is spread about federal employees, you can count on the AFGE Truth Squad to set the facts straight,” the union concluded.The most recent claim the blog addresses is the belief that federal workers are overpaid.
“Private-sector employers earn 24% more than federal employees performing comparable jobs, according to objective salary surveys by the Bureau of Labor Statistics [a government agency],” AFGE stated in the Feb. 9 entry.A Feb. 5 entry dispels the notion that federal workers can’t be fired by pointing out that in fiscal 2009, 11,275 federal employees were fired for poor performance or misconduct, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
AFGE and other labor unions have expressed ardent opposition to the Obama administration’s implementation of a two-year pay freeze for federal civilian employees, as well as, Republican lawmakers’ legislative proposals to shrink the size of the federal workforce.
Earlier this week, AFGE led a rally to protest proposed cuts to the federal budget. The union estimated that more than 600 federal employees attended the event.
CUT, Don’t Freeze Federal Employee Pay
December 1, 2010Ron Holland - While bankrupt, over-indebted governments everywhere from Russia and the United Kingdom to Ireland move to cut the number of government employees and reduce salaries, America the leading debt basket case of the world just might freeze salaries for a couple of years. This is just election year politics two years early.
The actual savings of a pay freeze are negligible at best. The proposal will curtail a planned 1.4% pay increase for over 2 million federal employees. Washington officials tell The New York Times,
"The pay freeze will save $2 billion in the current fiscal year that ends in September 2011, $28 billion over five years and more than $60 billion over 10 years."Like all government statistics, these figures are overly optimistic as the freeze will last at best only to late 2012.
Of course, the Obama Administration is looking toward re-election in 2012 and they want to freeze the pay for all civilian federal workers to get ahead of the GOP election rhetoric in the coming election. What they don’t mention is the freeze will not affect bonuses or step increases for federal employees.
The usual whining has already started with the unions where John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees with 600,000 members described the decision as "a slap at working people." Most government employees can be described by many adjectives including dictatorial, useless, make-work employees, bureaucratic, parasitic, etc. but few Americans in the private sector would ever describe them as "working people". This would be an insult to millions of real working people in the private sector.
The sad truth is government employees get paid far more on average than their productive counterparts in the private sector. In addition, they are covered under two expensive retirement programs including a defined-benefit type plan and a plan similar to 401(k) plan. Is there any wonder their turnover rate is around 1%?
Sadly it is wishful thinking to believe the salary reductions will lead to a mass exodus of government employees to the private sector since most of these people are in government "service" because they cannot compete in the private sector. Still, salary and retirement benefit reductions will at least reduce their wasteful burden on the American people, our economy and our growing deficit.
A Simple Solution!
If we really want to get the deficit and national debt under control I might suggest a real alternative instead of more fake window dressing. Why not include Congress along with the rest of the federal civilian employees and cut all their salaries and the monthly federal retirement benefits for those already retired by 1.5% each month or 18% each year until the budget is really balanced including off budget items. This will force the unions representing employed and retired federal workers to lobby for a real balanced budget instead of remaining the major impediment to such legislation.
In two years, we will have reduced the government employee expense and the federal government will likely have a balanced budget. Also, with the reduced bureaucracy costs and economic burden of their functions lifted, the economy of the United States should rebound. We could also further benefit economic growth by retiring them early and paying them not to come to work as most are such a negative drain on our economy.
I believe if we cut the salaries and retirement benefits of the House and Senate by 1.5% a month, they will be up to the challenge.
The success of these actions at the federal level would certainly help the states, municipal workers and teachers unions to see the light or else be subject to similar legislation.
The alternative is more failed Keynesian deficit spending and expanding Treasury debt on bureaucratic union and special interest bailout projects which certainly haven’t worked so far. More of the same will bring depression, dollar collapse and national bankruptcy, and I dare the Obama Administration to take real action and do this by Presidential Executive Order. At least this is a legitimate constitutional action by a president of the United States in times of crisis. This is far more than I can say about most of the actions and policies by either the Obama or Bush Administrations.
Join me in sending a message for real deficit reduction in Washington. Cut, don’t freeze federal employee pay and retirement benefits plus include Congress if you want to return to a balanced federal budget.
Look Up Federal Employees' Salaries here (search by name, location or agency).
Counteracting the Propaganda
Federal salaries have grown robustly in recent years, according to a USA Today analysis of Office of Personnel Management data. Government-wide raises for top-paid staff have increased in every department and agency. The Defense Department had nine civilians earning $170,000 or more in 2005, 214 when Obama took office and 994 in June. The biggest pay hikes have gone to employees who have been with the government for 15 to 24 years; since 2005, average salaries for this group climbed 25 percent compared with a 9 percent inflation rate. Medical doctors at veterans hospitals, prisons and elsewhere earn an average of $179,500, up from $111,000 in 2005. Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9 percent of the workforce, up from 0.4 percent in 2005. [Federal pay continues to rise; GOP eyes freeze, AZCentral.com, November 10, 2010]According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2008 (an organization within the Department of Commerce), the average federal employee made $79,197, excluding benefits; when benefits were added in, the average federal employee's total compensation was $119,982. The average private sector employee made $49,935; when benefits were added in, the average private employee's total compensation was $59,909. Stated differently, the benefit cost for the average federal employee back in 2008 was $40,785; the average benefit cost for private sector employees for the same year was $9,974. [Ralph Smith, Federal Pay Gap With Private Sector Growing, FedSmith, August 25, 2009]
Figures by the US Census Bureau reveal sharply worsening conditions for tens of millions of Americans under the impact of the economic crisis and the accumulation of vast wealth by a relative handful. Overall, the 2009 American Community Survey reveals that median household income fell in the US nearly 3 percent between 2008 and 2009, from $51,726 to $50,221. This was the second consecutive year in which household incomes dropped. Median income declined in 34 states, and increased only in sparsely populated North Dakota. [2009 Income Gap in the U.S. Highest on Record, Socialist Equality Party, September 29, 2010]
The federal civilian workforce has become an elite island of secure and high-paid workers, separated from the ocean of private-sector American workers who must compete in today’s dynamic economy [the public servants have become the public's masters]. The pay gap between federal workers and the rest of the economy is getting wider. Since 1990, average compensation has increased 115% in the government and 69% in the private sector, while average wages have increased 104% in the government and 65% in the private sector. The solution to the problem? Freeze federal pay rates for several years and urge Congress to examine fringe benefits packages for possible savings. The coming retirement boom provides an opportunity to turn functions over to the private sector to let market wage rates determine salaries with more efficient compensation policies. [Chris Edwards, Federal Pay Outpaces Private-Sector Pay, The Cato Institute, May 2006]
In 1953, about 75 percent of Federal employees had a GS level of 7 or below. By 2009, in contrast, more than 70 percent of the workforce was GS 8 or higher. [From A Government Document in Which Government Employees Justify their High Salaries]
In 2010 a USA Today analysis reported that federal civil servants earned in 2009, on average, twice as much in pay and benefits ($123,049), including unrealized pension benefits, as the average private worker ($61,051). Average benefits were worth $41,791, most of it due to pensions. The average federal salary grew 33% faster than inflation from 2000 to 2009. Average compensation grew 36.9% since 2000, after adjusting for inflation, compared with 8.8% for private workers. The federal compensation advantage had grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $62,000 in 2009. [From Wikipedia]
Coming on the heels of the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) similar authorities regarding pay, 2003 may represent a turning point in the way federal employees are compensated for their work. This year we should have been celebrating our second year of full comparability under the FEPCA, since the year 2002 should have represented the milestone for a complete realization of the local comparability system for federal General Schedule (GS) employees. Under the carefully crafted bipartisan Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FECPA), the 10-year phase-in of locality pay adjustments should have been completed, with the end result of GS workers finally being paid salaries comparable to the private sector on a locality by locality basis. [From the General Schedule Pay System for Federal Employees and FEPCA]
In 2008 the average federal worker earned twice that of his private-industry counterpart in wages and benefits: $120,000 per year versus $60,000. Check out the difference in slope of the two lines. Yowza. Federal pay and benefits are up 58% since 2000 compared to just 28% in the private sector. Of course, when you consider the massive productivity advantage government workers enjoy over their private counterparts, it all makes sense. WTF? Well, it's all the Democrats fault undoubtedly. Wait, looks like it was Bush. If you drive through Northern Virginia, you will find nearly entire neighborhoods of $500,000 to $900,000 homes owned by government workers or contractors. Then you can drive five streets over and find $200,000 to $400,000 homes owned by those who pay the salaries for those government employees. It’s a fascinating distribution of wealth. Most government employees and contractors could not earn more than $60,000 on the free market. Their only chance to make that kind of money comes from having an employer that not only never has to make a profit but can forcibly take money through taxation. The answer is that both are deeply to blame. Don't be fooled. There's nary a difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to growth of government. Both parties are completely, sadistically, out of control. There is NO spending restraint on either side of the aisle, just hot air, promises, and purple unicorns. Oh and bubbles. [Public Servants Live Better Than the Public, and Federal Pay Continues to Skyrocket, The Daily Bail, October 26, 2009]
Political tension is bound to grow when jobs disappear faster in the private than the public sector, just as compensation in the former is squeezed more. There was a time when government work offered lower salaries than comparable jobs in the private sector, a difference for which the public sector compensated by providing more security and better benefits. No longer. These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off and security, on top of working fewer hours. Public workers have become a privileged class — an elite who live better than their private-sector counterparts. Public servants have become the public's masters. Mort Zuckerman recommends creating independent commissions to fix salary scales and benefits for public employees, in addition to creating "more reasonable retirement ages," especially for new employees. Such reforms would be difficult, though, because as Zuckerman points out, the willingness of lawmakers to kowtow to Big Labor's demands automatically tips the scale in favor of big government. [Steve Everley, Public Servants are the Public's Masters, American Solutions, September 10, 2010]
The largest-ever federal payroll will hit 2.15 million people in 2010 and 2.11 million in 2011, but the true size of the federal government is much larger: it is estimated to be 15 million or more. To be more specific, by 2005, the true size of government reached 14.6 million employees, including 1.9 million civil servants, 770,000 postal workers, 1.44 million military personnel, 7.6 million contractors, and 2.9 million grantees. [Stephen Dinan, The U.S. Government's Hidden Workforce, The Washington Times, February 2, 2010]
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. [Justice Litle, Is America’s Economic Recovery on the Whole Based on a Rotten Sham?, Daily Markets, April 20, 2010]
The federal government does not create a traditional sellable product and thus produces no revenue outside of what it collects from taxpayers. As of 2008, the average federal salary was $79,197, compared with $49,935 for the average private sector employee. In other words, the average federal bureaucrat makes almost twice as much as the average working taxpayer. Add the value of benefits like health care and pensions, and the gap grows even bigger. The average federal employee’s benefits add $40,785 to his annual total compensation, whereas the average working taxpayer’s benefits increase his total compensation by only $9,974. In other words, federal workers are paid on average salaries that are twice as generous as those in the private sector, and they receive benefits that are four times greater. [Brandon Greife, The Public Sector Weight Around Taxpayers’ Necks, RedStates.com, May 4, 2010]
Federal workers now earn, in wages and benefits, about twice what their private sector equivalents get paid. They often have Cadillac health plans and retirement benefits far above the private sector average: 80 percent of public-sector workers have pension benefits, only 50 percent in the private sector. Many can retire at age 50. Merely rolling federal employee pay back to where it was in 1998 relative to the private sector, and shifting state and local government pay back to 2005 relative levels, would save $116 billion annually from government costs. [Ed Lasky, Obama and the Government Employees, American Thinker, February 12, 2010]
The Salaries of Federal Employees
February 2009issues veritas (HubPages.com) - The private sector has been going down hill for the past twenty years. The benefits are less each year and less employers offer benefits. There is no job security since the at will employment was spread around the private sector. Social Security is a bad joke in comparison to your FERS retirement.
Their are a lot of crappy low paying non benefit jobs in the private sector.
Millions of workers in the private sector lost their jobs in the last year; how many Federal Employees lost their jobs? Millions of private sector workers received pay cuts and reduced benefits; how many Federal Employees had this experience? Most Federal Employees can retire under FERS ten or more years earlier than those on Social Security. FERS has better pensions and, unlike Social Security, you don't have to pay into the system from the time you began work until you retire; and then if you earn wages after you retire, Social Security is still taken out of your wages.
There are many jobs in the private sector where people put in extra hours without getting paid at all. There are many jobs in the private sector where the bosses are mistreating their employees and there is no one to protect them. When you put the Federal Employee package up against those in the private sector, the Fed package is heads up better.
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