Evening star., 1946-02-06
Postwar Change
In Civil Service
Held 2-Year Job
Time Needed to Hold
Examinations and Set
Up Hiring Registers
BY JOSEPH YOUNG.

civil Service officials predicted
today that complete Govern
ment reconversion from war
time to peacetime personnel will
take from 18 months to two
years.
Although President Truman's
executive order yesterday ended
war-service appointments and set
the machinery in motion for a
peacetime basis, Government off,
cials feel that in some job classifi-
cations it will take that amount of
time to hold examinations and set
up permanent hiring registers.
Mr.. Truman will meet at 10 am.
Saturday with heads of Federal de-
partments and agencies to discuss
his order returning the Govern
ment to a peacetime hiring program.
During the interim period Fed
eral agencies may hire employees
directly without reference to the
Civil Service Commission. This was
done at the request of the COM
mission, which wishes to devote its
full time to restoring the Govern
ment to a peacetime personnel
basis.
Some Examinations Shortly.
Examinations for some job cIassi-
f1cations will be held in the near
future. However, it will take con-
siderably longer to hold examina-
tions for other kinds of positions,
officials said.
The first examinations to be held
shortly will be for permanent STEM
ographic and typist positions. Civil
service officials have expressed the
opinion that all war service appoint
ees holding these type of jobs and
who pass tests for permanent ap-
pointments will be retained in per-
manent peacetime jobs.
Although thousands OF other war
service jobs will be made perma-
nent, Federal officials said workers
in these positions have no assurance
that they will receive permanent
jobs If they pass regular civil serv-
ice examinations. This is because
the Government plans to drop 800,-
600 persons from its payroll by June,
1947.
Tenure Not Assured.
1t was pointed out that the 18-
month-to-two-year transition period
does not mean that all war service
appointeeS will retain their jobs
that long. AS soon as an examina-
tion is held for a job classification
and the hiring list completed, these
peaeetime positions will be filled
from the register. War service ap-
pointees who fail to take the test
OF fail to pass the examination will
be dismissed at that time.
1.-The rapidity in which examina-
tionS are held for each type of posi-
tjon will determine the tenure of
the employe in that war service job.
1t is expected that examinations
for the bulk Of war service jobs will
be held within the next year. 1t will
take while longer for examina-
tions to be given for positions in
the professional, scientific and tech
niofl categories.
The Civil Service Commission
urged war service appointees to sit
tight and watch the newspapers
for dates of examinations for their
t.1pe of job. War service appointees
will receive a flve-point marginal
preference over non-veteran outside
applicants for Federal positions.
Disabled and non-d disabled veterans
receive first preference and war
service employees second.
Protest Meeting Today.
Meanwhile, the United Federal
Workers of America (CIO), sched-
uled mass rally at noon today on
the Mall at Ninth street and Con-
stitution avenue NV, in protest
against the provision allowing agen-
cies to hire without APPROVAL of the
Civil Service Commission during the
transition period. UFWA charges
that this will result in Discrimination
against the thousands of war service
appointees who have lost their jobs
and are now seeking unemployment
in the Government. The union con-
tends that these employees should
have first crack at jobs opening up
now in the Government.
The new procedure will result in
a return to the "spoils system, UFWA
charged, as it urged the commissionI
TO set up temporary hiring Its
giving preference to dismissed war
service appointees in filling tempor-
arY Jobs.