Evening star., 1937-03-17
INCREASE IS VOTED
1,200 CUST0D|ANS
Of i. s. BUILDINGS
$4,000 Amendment Passed
by Senate Affects Low.
Paid Group.
$775,O00 HOUSE GRANT
ALSO LIKELY TO CARRY
Ireasury-Post Office Appropria.
ton Bill Totaling $1,5O5, ,0O0,.
600 Speeds Toward Passage.
BY ]. A. O'LEARY.


The Senate today approved without
debate the $4,000 amendment to the
Treasury-Post Office appropriation bill
10 raise the pay of about 1900 GUS
todial employees in public buildings.
indications are it also will adopt
later in the day another item of s775.-
600 placed in the bill by the House a
month ago to grant similar increases
to approximately II 900 other custodial
workers. The House proposal adjusts
the pay Of workers in post Offices. and
the purpose of the Senate amendment
is to apply the same increase to en-
ployes doing identical work in buildings
supervised by the procurement division
OF the Treasury.
quickly ratifying nearly all other
Senate committee changes, the SEN
ate appeared likely to pass the ST.
SOC, 100000 tWo-department measure
later this afternoon.
Full Reserve Set-Up.
Senator Vandenberg, Republican, o.
Michigan renewed his attack on the
full reserve system set-up in the So
cial security law for operation of the
FEDERAL old-age retirement plan.
POINTING out that the pending bill
carries the first large appropriation
S5OO ,0OO, ,OOO-for that reserve, VAN
denberg again reminded the Senate
that ultimately the full reserve will
become $4,000 100000 He called /.
the most fantastic and indefensible
objective imaginable" Vandenberg
contends that the full-reserve system
Is unnecessary to Government
operated retirement plan.
The custodial pay increases will be
$50 a year. The Senate committee in
cluded the 1000 Procurement Division
workers after listening to the testi-
mony of Luther C. Steward, head of
the National Federation of Federal
Employees.
The House amendment was spon-
sored by Representative Connery
Democrat, of Massachusetts, who is CO.
author with Senator McCarran, Demo-
crat, of Nevada Of the bill to improve
wage standards in the low brackets
throughout the Federal service
Counting the House and Senate
amendments together, there is now in
the Treasury-Post Office measure
S850,000 to increase the custodial
forces that come under those two
departments.
Charles I. Stengle, president Of the
American Federation of Government
Employees, appeared at the House
hearings to describe the need for bet
ter pay for the custodial workers.
McCarran Bill Delayed.
Meanwhile, the McCarran bill to
step up all the low brackets and to
make sl,50O the minimum for full
time Government employment, is being
delayed in the Civil Service Commit
tee at the request of the Budget
Bureau pending an administration
survey of Government personnel con-
ditions.
While the items in the Treasury
Post Office supply bill grant relief to
comparatively limited number, they
constitute a recognition of the princi-
pie on which the McCarran proposal
is based, namely, to better the wage
scale at the bottom of the classical
ton schedule.
For all expenses of the two depart
ments for the next fiscal year, the
Treasury-Post Office bill calls for
$1,5O5, ,l38,287, of which S785, ,323,477 is
for the postal service. For both de-
partments the Senate committee
recommends net increase of 50 3,207.-
900 over the House, but the measure is
still s1O,857,000 under the budget
estimate