I guess we just have to improve our reading between the lines skills. When I heard President Obama say that in order to get into the spirit of cutting federal spending, he would freeze the pay of federal workers for two years, I thought that he meant that he would freeze the pay of federal workers for two years. Since federal workers make about 30 to 40 per cent (including benefits) more than private sector workers, I thought that freezing their wages was probably a good idea. Well, it may or may not be a good idea, but it really doesn’t matter because freezing wages isn’t really freezing wages.<\/p>\n
The Daily Caller<\/a> reported today that the President’s plan would stop the annual across-the-board cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all federal workers, it would not affect pay raise for job classification upgrades, and employees will still be eligible for step increase.<\/p>\n According to the United States Office of Personnel Management, new employees can expect to receive a step increase every year, mid-level employees can expect a step increase every two years. Step increases can result in raises in amounts up to $22,672<\/font><\/a> in one year. These raisees will happen even with the ‘pay freeze.’ Could someone please freeze my pay that way? The article points out that the COLA freeze probably would have happened anyway, since Social Security has not seen a COLA for two years. Obviously, union officials have opposed the freeze (such as it is).<\/p>\n This is another example of telling the American people something to impress them while doing exactly the opposite thing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I guess we just have to improve our reading between the lines skills. When I heard President Obama say that in order to get into the spirit of cutting federal spending, he would freeze the pay of federal workers for … Continue reading