Civilian Federal Pay Raises Are No Guarantee

Over the last several years, the White House and their majority friends in Congress have displayed a disturbing pattern of attempting to whittle away at civilian federal pay increases.

When the White House submitted budgets FY04, FY05, and FY06 to Congress, the proposals attempted to compensate for overspending in other areas by short-changing civilian federal workers.  Although there has been a long-standing tradition of pay parity between uniformed and civilian federal employees, the administration consistently submitted budgets that would compensate civilian workers less than military personnel.  Thanks to a small, bi-partisan group of law-makers (and the efforts by federal employee unions) civilian workers¡¯ pay has been restored each of these years through the Congressional budget process.

This year the White House came up with a new strategy.  They offered pay raises to both civilians and military workers that were so low, asking for a two-tier increase would be meaningless.  The 2.2 percent proposed increase would do nothing to close the pay gap between the federal and private sectors.  In fact, a 2.2 percent pay raise would be unlikely to keep up with inflation, meaning the standard of living for federal workers would likely decease in 2007.  At present, it is possible, but uncertain if Congress will increase the FY07 federal pay raise to 2.7 percent.

On a different front, the administration is attempting to do away with regular federal pay raises altogether.  Under new personnel systems at the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), annual federal pay increases will be eliminated and replaced with subjective pay bands that guarantee no increase from one year to the next.  The White House has plans to take this pay scheme government-wide if it receives the necessary support from lawmakers in the next Congress.

When you go to the polls on November 7^th, remember that the current majority in Congress is generally supportive of White House efforts to curb federal civilian pay.  In order for us to keep federal pay where it should be, we need a Congress that values the work federal employees perform every day.  That is one more reason why it is crucial for every federal worker to get out and vote on November 7^th. 

Please continue to look for our Remember in November column in the coming weeks so we can help you prepare to make an informed decision on Election Day.  For information on your elected officials¡¯ voting records please contact NFFE National Headquarters at (202) 862-4400 or rerwin@nffe.org.