Evening star., 1943-12-19

| OlSGk 1UuGlOI1 ScCGlOtlS OIL Ul16 Cll
Of nonvet.rans on the Civil servic,
Unemployment list.
Improvements in tho competitive
system Of selecting postmasters, with
the comment that tho present situ-
alton will not be corrected so long
as the RamSpeck-O'Mahoney) act
requires Senate confirmation Of ap-
pointees."
Reforms in present recruiting and
supervision procedures.
Appointment of more women tc
Federal positions.
Hiring of more physically handi.
capped persons for jobs they are
capable of filling.
Efficient Personnel Use.
The commission denied charges OF
widespread failure to make efficient
use of personnel but admitted that
some of the accusations were found
ed on fact. A direct attack" on this
problem has been launched, the re-
port asserted, with the objective ol
helping any department or agency
make the best use Of its employees.
1t added that the commission will
work with progressive" agencies te
determine whether workers are
being used effectively and tina,
where agencies refuse to adopt 8
personnel utilization program where
| IL &c roada5 tho 70 cte will ha ra
ported to the President "for such
action as he may wish to take"
| The report went on to say that
the commi/ion takes sharp issue
with the widespread impression that
an incompetent employe should be
kept because of the present difficult
ties in recruiting employees in tight
labor market"
Rapps Retention of inefficient.
''The retention of an incompetent
employe," the commission said, can
not fail to lower the morale of COM
petent employees in the same or
ganiaztion who, from day to day,
see him, though undeserving, keep
ing his job and in many instances
getting the same pay as they do"
Between July, l941, and Septem-
Der, 1943, the report said, 27,842
persons were weeded out of Fed
eral jobs as unsuitable. These in
cluded TIA who were dismissed on
suspicion of being disloyal to the
United States, among them 3l3 for
pro-Fascist, pro-Nazi or pro-Japa-
nese tendencies and 46l Com
munlsts or Sympathizers.
An extensive policy was proposed
for the protection of war veterans
in connection with Government
jobs. The recommendations in
cluded the following:
Continue to allow them to COM
pete for and enjoy preference rat
ings for career jobs.
Rehire Servicemen.
Return old jobs or similar ones at
similar classihcations to all who
entered the armed services.
Give preference to veterans who
held war-service appointments over
nonveterans.
In reducing personnel, do not dis
miss veterans with good" efficiency
ratings while nonveterans are re-
tanned, regardless of ratings.
Continue to require written rea-
sons for passing over veterans by
personnel directors in hiring new
employees.
Seek authority for the commission
to decide whether such reasons for
passing over" can be sustained.
The commission explained, how
ever, that it was opposed to prefer
ence for veterans on an indiScrimi-
nate basis since such an attitude
would be inconsistent with the merit
system.
Delegation of Hiring Power.
To stimulate recruiting of Fed
eral workers during the war period
the commission recommended that
agencies of the Government delegate
more freely to field representatives
their power to hire workers: that
agencies report as far in advance
as possible their personnel needs to
enable the commission to produce
the required employees and that Fed
eral agencies be empowered to pay
certain types OF new employees the
cost of transportation from their
homes to the place of employment.
1t was pointed out that the need
for trained supervisors in the Fed
eral service is still "acute" and that
the commission has sponsored Gov
ernment-wide use of the program
conceived and established by the
training within industry branch of
the War Manpower Commission.
More than 100000 Federal super
viSors have been given valuable
training in methods of supervision,
the report said.
In general" the report said, "the
commission has nothing but high
commentator for the excellent
work which the rank and file of
Government employees have accom-
plished during the war. The COM
mission has noted with serious con-
Germ the tendency of some individ-
uals and groups and media to hang
upon the Government workers in
general such labels as incompetence,
clock watchers, draft dodgers. bu-
reaucratic bunglers and other desig-
nations equally untrue and unfair"