Posted on 07/06/2013 8:26:09 AM PDT by SkyPilot
More than 650,000 civilian Defense Department workers will begin taking the first of their 11 unpaid days off next week, but the cut in salary they will see in the three months may pale compared to what officials worry could be larger-scale layoffs next year.
Roughly 85 percent of the department’s nearly 900,000 civilians around the world will be furloughed, according to the latest statistics provided by the Pentagon. But while defense officials were able to shift money around to limit the furloughs this year, there are widespread worries that if automatic budget cuts go forward for 2014, thousands of civilian, military and contract jobs could be on the chopping block.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is expected to provide senators with more details early next week on how the next wave of across-the-board budget cuts will affect the department, said Pentagon press secretary George Little. But while defense officials have not yet released details on the impact of the cuts, Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, has warned that as many as 100,000 more active-duty, National Guard and Reserve soldiers could lose their jobs if Congress allows billions of dollars in automatic budget cuts to continue next year.
Initial hopes that the number of furlough days could be reduced have largely been dashed. Instead, talk is focused more on how to slash spending in 2014. The department can only force workers to take 22 furlough days per year, thus the need for worker layoffs has been getting more traction to achieve savings.
In the coming weeks, however, civilian employees ranging from top-level policy advisers to schoolteachers and depot workers will not be answering their phones or responding to emails for one day a week through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
(Excerpt) Read more at spokesman.com ...
I know a civilian employee of the DOD.
He’s already been cut to four days a week. Has been for a month or more.
My furlough day is every Friday until October 1st. The first one begins this week. Interesting after 24 years in the military, I never was furloughed in the military but the minute I work at the Naval Academy....bam! Furlough!!!! I know FREEPERS hate government workers, but not everyone of them are bad.
There was a Freeper last week who could not seem to make the distinction between a DoD maintenance guy making very little money working on a hot Air Force flight line, or a nurse at Walter Reed - and some IRS Senior Executive who is carrying out Obama's evil orders.
To him, they are one in the same, despite the fact that one civilians is contributing to the service of the military and one is a political hack.
If someone's myopia that is bad, they should be a liberal.
Plan on this happening every time the Obamas take a $100 million vacation.
I don’t work for DOD directly. I work for Northrop Grumman on the Barry Goldwater Tactical Bombing Range in SW AZ. The govt shut the range down on the 28th of June. We go back to work on Monday. Shutting the range down for 9 days in a row means we won’t have to play the every other Friday off game.
We were allowed to use our Sick days or vacation time to keep getting paid during this time. We are the lucky ones in the Defense Industry. I know other contractors at the Yuma Army Proving Ground and MCAS Yuma whose companies are not allowing them to use vacation or sick time. They just have to eat it.
I don’t hate government workers. I do hate government unions. Ideally, I think the federal workforce should be cut by 70%. Do I want every federal employee thrown out on their behind? No. I would like to see every one of those 70% with a good job in the private sector. I’ve been a government employee and I’ve had to make a payroll in the private sector. I don’t fault anyone for taking a government job. But, the government workers have to understand that their wages are paid, for the most part, by taking wages from people in the private sector. There is a lot of bluster and bravado from the government unions to distract from the fact that their wages come from wages taken from workers in the private sector. Government employees don’t need to grovel and beg, but they should acknowledge that they depend on the private sector. If the private sector decreases, then the number of government employees needs to decrease. That’s not politics, that’s sound economic practice. The way to help government employees is to get government out of the way of American businesses. I used to think the military was inspection-crazy until I ran a private business. I had four times the number of inspections that I had in the military. Obviously, we can’t have businesses dumping poison into schools, but I think the government could ease up on business and help this dead economy get started.
900,000 x .85 = 765,000
I am one of those DoD civil servants being cut back. The good news is that my kids are out of college and my wife also has a good job. Still it will hurt. Better news is that the military has fought back against the original OPM mandates so we can schedule around things as needed, especially in those areas doing direct warfighter support.
My real concern are the younger employees, many of whom are veterans. One of my guys is married, 1 kid and a wife who is about to pop out their second child. They bought a modest house before the furloughs were discussed. The 20% cut for the rest of the FY is going to hurt them. We will help them as much as they will allow, but there will be pain.
Thank you so much. I definitely know a lot of great ones and of course a few that were not so great, but that is with everything in life.
I do hate government unions.
I agree with much you said....70 percent might be a bit much but 40-50 percent I can get on board with. There is a bunch of government workers that have been in so long that if they all left it actually would cost a fortune in retirement benefits. I think that is how they are ultimately going to cut government is not replace people who retire. The number of government workers between 60-85 is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!! Seriously. Sometimes at the Academy, I think I am working at a geriatric facility and I am not exaggerating that at all.
That is true. There are a lot of people who feel that all government employees are the same. To be honest, I wish the Department of Defense was separate from the rest of the federal government.....By NO MEANS am I saying every DOD employee is 100 percent needed but I just hate being grouped in with the IRS, EPA, and other federal workers.
Me too, I start this week and choose to look at the bright side. 11 weeks of three day weekends and a couple of fours thrown in there as well ! I’ll be on vacation part if the time, so i’ll be paid less, but my vacation will be charged less. I am one of the 20% who does 80% of the work, so I am looking forward to the break!
Our home office is like that too. We have stroke victims, wheel chairs, and one guy who rolls around on a little low dolly with his ass way up in the air. Some kind of hunchback issue.. I feel bad for the guy, but he was eligible to retire 10 or more years ago and he still rollin around.
I think that is how they are ultimately going to cut government is not replace people who retire.
Some the agencies we deal with are now starting furloughs for the existing workforce. Yet theses same agencies are hiring scores of interns, starting at the GS-7/9 levels. Attending various debriefings, was amazed at the twenty/thirty somethings in attendance. Personnel eligible to retire did NOT approximate the number of 'interns'.
Not surprising. Government has no idea how to predict numbers. You should see the active duty side. They are worse. They discharged about 20K Sailors in 2011-2012 and now they are saying.....we went to far. How nice for those Sailors who were shown the door. It is ridiculous but it has never been even close to the number actually needed. The interns are GS 7/9???? Wow. Our Interns are GS 3 with 12 hours a week. You guys are generous...lol.
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