It’s a new year for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and that means new legislative priorities. NTEU had similar priorities in 2013, so it remains to be seen how successful these will be.
Reactions to unions are mixed, to put it mildly. Regardless of how a person feels about them, however, many of the issues identified are important. Specifically federal pay, contractor pay caps, and employee morale.
FEDERAL PAY
When it comes to federal pay, the argument is somewhat about morale, but it’s also about being a good employer. Aside from cost of living adjustments (COLA), regular raises should not be done haphazardly or across the board but they should not be frozen for three years. Employees grow and contribute more with added challenges and added rewards. The latest COLA is definitely a step in the right direction, but it may not be enough to encourage underpaid government employees to stay. As long as the debate continues on whether or not federal employees are overpaid or underpaid, then this issue will continue. As with most “research”, the data can be skewed to make the outcome appear positive or negative. Even contractor salaries can look reasonable or exorbitant depending on the data.
CONTRACTOR PAY CAPS
Speaking of contractor pay…it is a worthwhile discussion. Whether or not a federal union is qualified to support this or not is irrelevant. It is taxpayer money that pays the federal employee, and it is taxpayer money that pays the contractor. So, if the light is shining on one, it should be shining on the other, as well. The contractor pay cap at $487,000 is hardly “slashing employee compensation” as Wall Street Journal Blog indicates, but it could force contractors to be creative and agile in a defense market that is not willing to overpay. Reducing the number of cost plus contracts could also put a natural damper on high employee compensation. It is a balancing act, but this is clear way of saying that the customer is not willing to pay.
MORALE
Increasing federal pay and capping contractor pay definitely contribute to the morale of the federal employee, but those two alone will not stop the downward trend. Morale has decreased every year for the past three years. High morale can move an organization forward, and low morale can result in slower growth and low performance. Most taxpayers would argue against reduced government performance. Pay freezes and tense work environments tend to weed out the top performers and the good leaders, which is arguably not the intended result.
‘OVERPAID CONTRACTORS’ VS ‘6-HOUR WORKDAY FEDERAL CIVILIANS’
Clearly, people interpret the union’s priorities differently. It’s rarely a good idea to read the online comments sections, but sometimes, it helps clarify the different paradigms that people have. Federal employees are a hot topic in the budget debate. Federal employees complain about the work conditions, and taxpayers want all costs reduced.
Washington Post readers commented on the union priorities. One stated, “Zillions in our Fed and state bureaucracy are sitting around trying to fill out that 6 hour day and putting together their demands for, what else?, MORE money, MORE insurance, Early retirement, More days off. More vacation time, etc. Gee, must be nice. One obvious solution is to fire the bottom dwelling 15% that does zippo every day and replace them with people hungry to get a job that pays. OOPS, I forgot. No way, no how can any Fed ever be fired, or downgraded or disciplined. NO matter how dumb, how useless, how stupid you are, once hire you are there until you drop dead. And truth be told, even if you are dead in your seat, you probably STILL collect all your pay. Amazing. We have allowed UNIONS to take over Education, Health care, defense, et al. They are all overpaid, underworked and over pensioned. Time for a real revolt by us moron taxpayers footing the bill.”
It’s tough to combat that argument – especially when someone makes a broad sweeping statement using phrases like “zillions in our Fed,” which literally means “an indeterminately huge number in our Fed.” So why bring up crazy comments? It’s important to note because this is how many people feel about the federal workforce. The reality is, why shouldn’t they feel this way? The country’s leadership either targets the federal workforce without a smart plan to actually reduce costs, or they passively stand by while others target the federal workforce. No one has stepped up to reform the system itself.
The real issue that will prevent (or marginalize) these union priorities from coming to fruition is Congress’ lack of serious discussions on really balancing the budget and tackling the debt. It’s nice that a budget is set to pass, but it doesn’t do much to address the key drivers of deficit and debt. As long as there is a budget deficit and the national debt keeps mounting, then federal employees pay/benefits (just like the military retiree pay/benefits) will be seen as the proverbial “low hanging fruit” that can be plucked in order to give an appearance that there is seriousness about the budget.
Another comment on the federal union priorities seems to get it right. “Civil-Discourse” states, “When the economy is good people laugh at feds for earning less than private sector workers earn for the same job. When the economy is bad all of a sudden federal workers are overpaid greedy leeches.” For sure, it is a lot easier to complain about a problem than it is to actually fix the problem.
