Evening star., 1935-04-16
us. WORKERSASK
3O-YEAR OPTIONAL
|. RETIREMENT PLAN
Copeland Bill to Establish
Annuity Payments to
Widows Favored.
DELEGATION APPEARS
BEFORE SENATE GROUP
Only Small Number of Employees
Would Want to Quit at Once,
Babcock Says.
BY ], A, O'LEARY.

A plea that Government employees
be given the option of retiring after
80 years service was made to a Sen
ate subcommittee today by SpokeSmen
for various groups of Federal workers
here and throughout the country.
Two bills to accomplish this change
in the law are pending. one by Sen
ator Gibson, Republican, Of Vermont
and the other by Senator Nicely,
Democrat, of West Virginia.
A delegation also appealed to the
subcommittee for action on the Cope
land bill to establish system Of
annuity payments to widows of Gov
ernment employees.
The subcommittee, composed of
Senators McKellar Of Tennessee, Byrd
of Virginia, Democrats. and Gibson,
also heard testimony on several other
Civil Service bills, including the meas
ure to extend the retirement law to
employees in the legislative service at
the Capitol.
AlcOrn Outlines Bills.
Robert H. Alcorn, chairman of the
Joint Conference on Retirement of
Civil Service Employees, outlined the
purposes of the various pending
measures. Among other witnesses
who testified in support of the pro-
gram were:
Joseph P. OLone of the Typo
graphical Union, speaking for Gov
ernment Printing Office employees;
E. Claude Babcock and Charles I.
Stengle of the American Federation
Of Government Employees; N. P.
Alias, District Local, A, 1nterna-
tional Association Of Machinists;
Gilbert E. Hyatt, National Federation
of Post Office Clerks, and Francis
Black, speaking for groups of me-
chanicS in navy yards and arsenals.
Other postal groups also were repre-
sented.
Under existing law there are three
age limits for compulsory retirement.
depending on the class of work being
performed-namely, 10 years, IS years
or So years. The present law allows
an employe to exercise the option
Of retiring two years before the COM
pulsory age for his class of service.
Many Avoid Retirement.
Babcock and other witnesses told
| the subcommittee that, while there
are $4,000 Government workers who
| have put in 80 years service, expe-
rience and studies indicate not more
than 5 or 6 per cent of them would
want to exercise the option to retire
before the compulsory age. For that
reason, the witnesses said, the addi-
tional cost of allowing optional re-
tirement at the end of 80 years would
not exceed $1,2O0,000 a year.
Most of the retirements since the
| system began, Babcock said, have
been of the compulsory kind and,
therefore, for the benefit of the Gov
ernment rather than the individual.
In view of that fact, the subcommit-
tee was told, Government workers feel
| justified iE asking for the 30-year
optional privilege for those who would
want to exercise it.
Chesley w. Jurney, sergeant at
arms of the Senate, suggested an
amendment to the bill relating to the
legislative service, under which en-
ployes who are only employed at the
Capitol during a session of Congress
would not be included. The amend
ment would bring into the retirement
system those legislative employees who
serve five years or longer. Retirement
benefits cannot start, however, until
after Is years of service, except in
certain cases of disability.
No action Will be taken on the sew
eral bills until the subcommittee re-
| ports to the entire Civil Service Com
mittee.