AFGE Applauds Obama Budget Plan to End Sequestration, Says Federal Worker Proposals Fall Short

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) ^ | February 2, 2015 | The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)

[mdittmar]

President Obama’s 2016 budget falls short of his State of the Union pledge to raise living standards for middle-class Americans by failing to honor the nation’s commitment to our dedicated public sector employees, AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said today.

The president’s proposed 1.3 percent pay raise is only slightly better than the paltry 1 percent raise federal employees received this year and last, following an unprecedented three years of frozen pay.

“Let’s be real – a 1.3 percent pay raise will be eaten up by higher costs for groceries, health care and other essentials. Like other middle-class workers, federal employees need a meaningful pay raise to make up for years of stagnant wages, and unfortunately the president’s proposal falls short,” Cox said.

AFGE strongly supports legislation introduced in the House and Senate to provide federal employees with a 3.8 percent pay raise next year.

President Obama’s proposal to cut the Pentagon’s civilian workforce by 3,500 positions will only increase the department’s overreliance on more costly service contractors, if the work performed by these civilians is not also eliminated.

The Government Accountability Office recently reported that the Office of the Secretary of Defense “estimated that there were about 3,287 contractor full-time equivalents throughout the organization, which represents about 55 percent of OSD’s total workforce in fiscal year 2013.”

“No proposal to cut the cost of the department’s headquarters operations can be taken seriously if it disregards the one segment of the workforce that costs the most,” Cox said.

AFGE strongly supports the president’s goal of ending the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, which would have a devastating impact on programs and services that benefit millions of Americans.

Cox also voiced support for tax proposals in the budget, particularly taxing profits that corporations keep overseas to avoid paying taxes in the U.S., which would have no negative impact on domestic job creation.

AFGE also support the president’s proposal to invest in roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.

[House Atreides]

Surprise, surprise, surprise....the federal workers’ union AFGE argues that the overpaid and underworked (in many instances) federal employees are actually UNDERPAID and in dire need of raises. Bull crap!

[bert]

sequestration will not be repealed.

money removed from DOD by sequestration will be replaced and increased as necessary by appropriation

[gorush]

Now that the military has been gutted, can’t we just forget about the rest? The problem is “our guys” will probably go along with it.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

GOP should immediately propose across the board tax cuts for everyone ...Alas, they won’t.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I wonder what they would think of a proposal to cut their pay by another 5%?

10% ?