Evening star., 1945-06-17
Congress 70 Get
Plea Speed
Pay RaiseBi||s
Present Overtime
Provisions Expire
At End of Month
BY DON s, WARREN.

congress Will be urged this WeeE
to speed action on several pending
bills for basic pay raises for Fed.
eral and municipal employees.
Speed Is urged especially on thu
ground that present overtime OF
wartime bonus pay levels for all af.
fected will expire June 80 unles.
Congress acts before then.
The pending measures are:
!. The Federal pay raise bill, tc
give classified and certain other
Government employees their first
basic pay raise in Is years. This
s has been passed by both the House
and Senate, but with sharp differ
ences in provisions for overtime pay
The House is expected to send the
bill to conference Tuesday.
2. The postal pay bill, passed by
the House and now being considered
by the Senate Post Office and Post
Roads Committee, which will hold
another hearing Tuesday.
McCarran Will Push Bill.
>. The bill to give Washington
teachers and school officials their
first basic pay raise in 81 years, now
before subcommittee of the House
District Committee, which will re-
sumo hearings Tuesday morning.
and the substitute stop gap" teach
er pay bill, sponsored by Senator
McCarran, Democrat. of Nevada.
Senator McCarran announced YES
terday he would press for passage
of his bill.
4. The bill calling for a 2o-10-5
per cent basic pay raise for District
hremen and members of the Metro
politan, White House and Park
Police. This is in line with the
formula for Federal workers in pend
ing legislation. The bill was favor
ably reported by the House District
Committee last week and is pending
on the House calendar. No action
yet has been taken on the Senate
side. The temporary $500 wartime
bonus for police and firemen, as
we'll as school teachers, will expire
June 80.
The police and fire bill was in
troduced by Representative McMil-
Ian, Democrat, of South Carolina.
who heads the Police and Fire Sub
committee of the House District
Committee.
Mr.. Mcmillan said yesterday he
hoped it would be possible for the
House to act on his bill this week
AS IN lieu of overtime work or for
night work. This follows the Senate
Federal pay bill provision, whereas
The House Federal pay bill calls for
an extra 10 per cent.
Mr.. Mcmillan said he plans to ask
hat the police and fire bill be made
% conform to the rate which Con-
5ress adopts in the Federal pay bill.
Senate Conferees Named.
The Senate already has named its
,onferees on the Federal pay bill. |
These are: Chairman Downey of
he Civil Service Committee, Acting
Chairman McKellar of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, Chair
man Byrd of the Joint Economy
Committee and Senators Aiken of
Vermont and LANCER of North Da-
kota, Republicans.
The House is expected to name
its conferees tomorrow or Tuesday.
Senator McCarran emphasized
hat he had introduced his stop
gap" measure as a means of giving
lassroom teachers an actual in
crease in the next fiscal year. He
said any pay bill for teachers should
provide for an immediate increase
because of the increase in the cost
of living.
Il understand that about 20 per
cent of the classroom teachers in
the elementary schools are filled by
so-called temporary teachers" he
continued. This is an alarming
condition, and steps must be taken
to correct this condition immedi-
ately.
Tn view of the fact that the
teachers in Washington are paid
salaries far below the minimum paid
professional workers in the Gov
ernment-Government employees in
the lower brackets, including profess
sional personnel, are themselves
grossly underpaid-I intend to make
every effort possible to secure pro-
essional wage level for the class
DOM teachers of this city"
Result of Long Study.
Senator McCarran, whose bill is
n accord with proposals suggested
oy spokesmen for the Teachers
Union Of the American Federation
of Teachers, said he had been told
the teachers permanent basic pay
raise bill now before House sub
committees was a result of lengthy
study.
However, he continued, this bill
actually denies classroom teachers
my increase in the next year over
nd above what they would receive
f present temporary legislation
imply were continued"
He added that further study for
permanent legislation was obviously
necessary"
Senator McCarran's bill would give
teachers and officers a temporary
raise of 20 per cent on the first
$1,000 of salary, plus 10 per cent on
the next $3,400 of salary, plus per
cent on any pay above $4,000 a year
for the year ending June 80, 1916.
In addition to this there would be
an extra 500 or 5000 added to the
pay of classroom teachers, to avoid
any lessening of present temporary
f1x,a1.