NTEU Sets 2007 Priorities at Annual Legislative Conference
During the week of February 26, 2007, NTEU’s Department of Legislation held its annual Legislative Conference. This three-day event included visits to Capital Hill by NTEU chapter leaders and members, during which they met with their elected representatives and senators, as well as staff members, to discuss a variety of issues important to federal employees.
In opening remarks to the more than 300 NTEU representatives assembled at the conference from around the country, President Colleen Kelley outlined some of the union’s priority legislative issues for 2007. These included fair pay for federal employees, a return to labor-management partnerships, an end to contracting out of government work, and the elimination of pension offsets.
"We now have more pro-federal employee members in the House and Senate than we have had in many years,” Kelley said, emphasizing the point by noting that this “base of support is personified by our guest speaker this morning” – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Majority Leader Hoyer, in a speech to the gathered crowd, promised that he would work for a fair pay raise for federal employees and in support of their efforts to rein in runaway contracting out – not just because it supports federal workers, but because it is good for America.
“The focus of the federal workforce is on service to the America people,” he told them. Therefore, federal employees are, in meaningful ways, the essence of our country. “America is blessed by your service and commitment,” he said. That means that “the government needs to keep faith with those who have made this commitment to their country.”
The Majority Leader said he and the rest of the congressional leadership “will take a good look” at the White House’s proposal for a 3 percent federal civilian and military pay raise in 2008. That comes after a 2.2 percent pay raise in 2007, the lowest in some 20 years. As a long-time advocate of comparability between public and private sector pay, Rep. Hoyer cautioned that “if the federal government can’t compete with the private sector for the best and brightest employees, then (the United States) can’t compete with the rest of the world.”
On contracting out, Rep. Hoyer warned that the loss of federal jobs to the private sector leads to the loss of the extensive expertise now available in federal agencies. “We are contracting out services that are critical,” he said, “and we don’t have the expertise inside (agencies) to tell if we’re getting what we want and need from contractors.” The Majority Leader said that, at a minimum, Congress needs to “make sure that federal employees have the right to compete for their jobs on a fair and even basis.” He also questioned claims of extensive dollar savings from contracting federal work. “The savings are over a very short term, two or three years,” he said. After that, he added, “costs escalate, very rapidly.”
On behalf of Chapter 293, Legislative Committee Co-Chair Bill Friar, from Headquarters, and member Ed Manion, from the Boston Regional Office, attended the Legislative Conference. Over the course of the week, they met with a number of individuals on Capital Hill to discuss issues of particular importance to SEC employees. Topping their list was NTEU’s continuing efforts to obtain a 2% increase to the SEC match in employee TSP retirement savings accounts. Thanks to both Bill and Ed for their work on behalf of the chapter. A
ll members should consider volunteering for this important conference next year. It is a great way to volunteer for Chapter 293 representational work that affords individual members an interesting opportunity to meet with representatives from Congress and their staff members.