Federal Daily - December 1, 2008

NTEU Criticizes PASS Merit Pay Raises

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) criticized the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Performance Accountability and Standards System (PASS) after a TSA report showed most of the agency’s frontline workforce received merit pay increases of 2 percent or less in 2008. The report, “Performance Accountability & Standards System 2008 Final Rating Thresholds & Payout Information,” highlights the final 2008 performance rating status of the TSA’s Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). Under PASS, employees are rated at five levels and are eligible for merit raises, or a one-time, lump-sum bonus, if they attain ratings at the top three levels. According to the report, slightly more than 50 percent of all TSOs were rated among the three lowest performance levels and received either a 1 percent salary increase, a one-time performance bonus of $1,000 or less, or nothing at all. For a TSO earning a typical salary of $26,000 per year, a 1 percent salary increase adds up to only $260 annually—or $10 per pay period. The PASS report also showed that an additional 32 percent of TSOs were awarded a Level Four rating, which means they received a 2 percent merit raise—or $520 based on a $26,000 annual salary. In a Nov. 24 statement, NTEU President Colleen Kelley called those amounts “insulting.” Kelley added: “These are the men and women we rely on to keep us safe from terrorists and bombs when we travel.” The union is urging the incoming Obama administration to issue a directive providing TSOs with collective bargaining rights and place them on the General Schedule pay system, Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1339.

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Union Urges TSA to Invest $5.6 Million Windfall in Workforce

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) urged the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to use a one-time, $5.6 million contractor settlement to improve working conditions for TSA employees. The money comes from NCS Pearson, which recently agreed to pay that amount to resolve allegations that it submitted “false claims” to TSA as part of its contract for agency hiring and training. The money would go a long way toward providing much-needed new technology and training for the agency’s Transportation Security Officers (TSOs), said AFGE President John Gage. The union said that in a recent AFGE survey, TSOs said they lack training time and adequate instruction, and that they are unable to complete training requirements because airports are understaffed and impose different training standards, and because test-takers are given inaccurate and inconsistent test-taking directions. “Persistent inadequate staffing, poor training and deficient working conditions has led TSA to the worst attrition rates, among the highest injury rates and the lowest morale in the federal government,” Gage said. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=907.

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Obama Names Orszag as OMB Chief

President-elect Barack Obama announced on Nov. 25 that he would appoint Peter Orszag as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Obama also named Rob Nabors to serve as OMB deputy director. Orszag, 39, an economist, had been serving as director of the Congressional Budget Office, a post he relinquished upon announcement of the OMB job. A veteran of the Clinton administration, Orszag also has worked in the private sector and at the University of California-Berkeley, Georgetown University and the London School of Economics. Nabors is currently the staff director of the House Appropriations Committee and served at OMB during the Clinton administration. Obama said the two new appointees will help in the effort to purge the budget of nonessential and wasteful government spending. “We will go through our federal budget—page by page, line by line—eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible, cost-effective way,” said Obama. To see more, go to: http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/president_elect_barack_
obama_announces_office_of_management_and_budget_dire.

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