The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today took sharp issue

with a proposed amendment to Senate tax legislation that would freeze the pay of

federal salaries and cap the number of federal employees.

In a letter to every senator, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said there is

no need to freeze the pay of frontline federal workers--many of whom are

suffering in difficult economic circumstances with spouses or other family

members unemployed. At the same time, she warned that a freeze on the number of

employees would "likely dramatically increase the number of contractors," at

considerable expense to taxpayers.

"Capping the number of federal employees is an ideological response that will

end up costing the government more money for less quality," Kelley said.

She expressed the union's strong opposition to a proposed amendment by Sen.

Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to H.R. 4213, the tax extenders legislation, as well as to

similar language contained in a proposed substitute amendment to the bill

expected to be offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).

President Kelley noted, first, that the White House has proposed only a

modest 1.4 percent pay raise in 2011 for federal civilian employees, and,

second, that this raise is based on the Employment Cost Index, which measures

wage increases in the private sector.

The proposed amendments would impact a wide range of civil servants, Kelley

said, including many who work side-by-side with members of the military on

behalf of the country. "Its effect would reach Customs and Border Protection

Officers, who protect our ports of entry; employees who monitor food safety at

the Food and Drug Administration; claims and appeals representatives who deal

with the elderly and disabled at the Social Security Administration;

Environmental Protection Agency scientists who help protect our environment; and

many others," she wrote.

Separately, the NTEU leader also pointed out that surveys conducted by the

respected Bureau of Labor Statistics put the present public-private sector pay

gap at 22 percent, on average, in favor of private sector workers.

"The pay gap in favor of the private sector is real," Kelley said, "and is a

significant factor in federal agency efforts to recruit and retain the

high-quality workers they need to perform their vital and increasingly-complex

duties on behalf of the public. We should not be taking any steps that make that

effort any more difficult than it already is."

In recent weeks, both the House and Senate have rejected other efforts to

freeze the pay of federal civilian workers.