2/3/10: During an appearance on “This Week” on ABC, Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) said federal employees earn twice as much as those who work in the private sector.

Click here to read an open letter that NTEU National President Colleen Kelley sent to the media and to Senator-elect Brown in the wake of those comments, setting the record straight about the ongoing gap between public and private sector pay—now set at some 26 percent in favor of the private sector.

In the letter, Kelley points out that the only appropriate way to make a fair pay comparison is to compare similar jobs with one another. She notes the federal workforce is a white-collar, highly-educated workforce with a great many professionals, and she cites White House figures contained in the fiscal 2011 budget blueprint concerning the educational level of federal employees contrasted with the private sector.

It is NTEU's hope that as Senator-elect Brown learns more about the connection between the work of federal employees and the public’s well-being, he will have an increased respect for and appreciation of your service.