Senator: GOP's attacks on federal workers 'baseless'
Source: Washington Post blog Federal Eye
By Ed O’Keefe
June 21, 2010
The ongoing Republican attacks on federal workers and their pay and benefits are demoralizing, baseless and based on flawed data, according to a Democratic lawmaker.
Sen. Ted KAUFMAN (D-Del.) -- who devotes a few minutes on the Senate floor each week to a different rank and file government worker -- last week targeted a proposal by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) to freeze federal salaries to help pay for the Senate's jobs bill, arguing many public sector employees could be making much more in the private sector.
"Nearly two million wake up each morning and go to work for the American people – for their neighbors, for their friends and family, for folks they have never met or will ever meet," KAUFMAN said. "They do it for substantially less pay than the same job in the private sector and with considerably more at stake. As I have said before, there are no Wall Street bonuses, and there is rarely ever recognition for hard work."
KAUFMAN said that Republicans and other fiscal conservatives have seized on a flawed USA Today analysis from March that suggested federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations.
But KAUFMAN (rightly) noted that the analysis was both highly selective of the job categories it compares failed to take into account the older demographics of the federal workforce.
"The scapegoating and baseless attacks against federal workers only serve to demoralize those who everyday are on the front lines of confronting our national challenges," KAUFMAN said. "It also discourages talented young Americans from making that difficult choice whether to start a career in service to their country."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) also recently called the proposed pay freezes "demoralizing," arguing talk of pay cuts makes it difficult for the government to recruit new workers.
Do you agree or disagree with KAUFMAN and Connolly?
