Attracting the Best Candidates to Federal Service Requires Better Political Climate, Respect
Largest Federal Employee Union Gives Testimony on Inspiring Students to Federal Service
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Federation of Government Employees strongly agrees that it is important to support in concrete ways our nation's public servants, and to educate the public about the value of their service to America. In doing this, the best and the brightest will be attracted to federal service, stated Witold Skwierczynski, president of the National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals of the American Federation of Government Employees. The union gave testimony yesterday on inspiring students to federal service to the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia.
"Unfortunately, the current political climate for all public employees, including federal employees, is harsh," continued Skwierczynski. "Efforts underway throughout the country would eliminate pensions, severely curtail health insurance benefits, cut or freeze pay levels, contract out government work, and eliminate longstanding collective bargaining rights making entering the federal workforce about as desirable as getting a root canal."
Several initiatives in the National Commission on Financial Stability and Reform, headed by former Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles have moved the deficit reduction debate in the wrong direction, using federal employees as the solution to deficit problems they did not create. "The Simpson-Bowles plan advocates turning the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program into a voucher system, with unjustifiable cuts to the government's contribution to premiums," stated Skwierczynski. "Based on AFGE's conservative calculations, if that proposal were to become law, by the year 2030 federal employees and retirees would be forced to pay 63% of the premium for Blue Cross/Blue Shield's standard option – the most popular plan in FEHBP – rather than the 33% they pay today. There are good ways to save money by reforming the FEHBP without taking away benefits from federal retirees, all of whom were promised that the government's share of their health insurance costs in retirement would continue on par with those still in the federal workforce."
The Simpson-Bowles plan goes further in its derision of federal employees by suggesting the federal retirement benefit formula move from a high-3 basis to a high-5 basis, cutting retirement benefits by 3 to 5 percent a year, depending on length of service. Combined with the two-year pay freeze – threatened by some to be extended to five years, this proposal represents a significant lifetime cut in compensation that will only drag down morale, recruitment, and retention for an entire generation.
Moreover, the Simpson-Bowles plan would force employees in the Federal Employee Retirement System to pay over 18% of their salary toward retirement. "Most AFGE members would be unable to afford this. In order to make ends meet, they would have to eliminate their contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan. Then they would lose investment earnings from their own contributions as well as the government match.
The FERS three-component plan, with Social Security, a defined benefit pension, and a 401(k)–style savings plan is just like the responsible private sector standard, and the federal government should not aim to match what the worst private sector employers get away with. I also note that recently introduced Senate legislation would eliminate completely the FERS modest defined benefit," said Skwierczynski.
The Simpson-Bowles plan also recommends slashing the federal civil service by 10% without any rationale or justification for the drastic reduction. "With significantly fewer federal employees agencies will be unable to fulfill their legal mandates. Agencies will be forced to hire contractors to do the work, at a significantly higher cost, leading to more contracting out and scuttling the federal government's previous efforts to reduce overreliance on contractors," explained Skwierczynski. "Slashing the federal civil service by 200,000 workers—without also explicitly identifying which programs are to be cut, weakened, or somehow transformed —is nothing more than burdening the taxpayers with another 200,000 contractors, who are always less accountable and usually less economical than federal employees."
"Unless these efforts to destroy the image and middle-class status of federal employees are not halted, it will not make a bit of difference if the Obama Administration creates the best possible recruitment programs for student interns, and recent undergraduate and graduate students. A candidate with any sense at all would refuse to join a workforce which is constantly being maligned and financially undermined for political purposes," concluded Skwierczynski.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 625,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.
SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees
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