FMA IN MARINE CORPS TIMES ON 2010 FEDERAL PAY RAISE - July 8, 2009

Federal civilians may get smaller pay hike

By Rick Maze, Marine Corps Times staff writer

A pay war is about to break out over the size of the 2010 military and federal civilian raises.

For the first time in more than two decades, the House Appropriations Committee approved a federal civilian pay increase for Jan. 1, 2010, that would be less than the military pay raise already passed by the House of Representatives.

The 2010 defense authorization bill, HR 2647, passed by the House on June 25, includes a 3.4 percent military raise, an amount greater than the 2.9 percent raise proposed by the Obama administration. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a similar 3.4 percent military raise in its version of the annual defense policy bill, S 1390.

With the House and Senate bills in agreement, the 3.4 percent military raise appears a virtual lock. Lawmakers have justified providing a bigger military raise as necessary to continue closing a gap that grew between military and private sector wages in the 1990s as a result of pay caps.

If approved — and there is every indication it will be — this would mark the 11th consecutive year that Congress has approved a military raise larger than the average private-sector increase.

For the 10 years in which lawmakers have tried to close the military pay gap, federal civilians have been along for the ride. Every time Congress approved a bigger raise for the military, federal civilians got the same larger raises. In fact, military and federal raises have been the same for the past 21 years.

But that could be about to end.

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a 2 percent raise for federal workers, effective Jan. 1, 2010, as part of the 2010 financial services appropriations bill. That is the raise proposed for federal civilians in President Barack Obama’s federal budget request.

The Federal Managers Association issued a statement saying it was “deeply disappointed” and hoped a larger raise would be approved for federal workers when the full House takes up the bill. “Appropriators dismissed decades of legislative precedent by issuing their support for dissimilar pay raises,” the association complained.

Darryl Perkinson, FMA’s national president, said his organization understands that sacrifices need to be made because of U.S. economic woes, but different raises go too far.

“By offering civilian federal employees a pay raise unequal to that afforded the military, however, Congress and the administration are expressing their belief that the work conducted by these public servants on a daily basis does not deserve the recognition conferred upon the armed forces,” Perkinson said.

“This oversight occurs despite the fact civilian employees serve on battlefields overseas, conduct scientific research leading to breakthroughs in the fight against disease and provide products and services the American people depend on everyday.”

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