The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-08-19
Federal Employees Win
Many Gains Through NFFE

When proposals affecting the
interest of Federal employees
crop up in Washington the NFFE
is sure to be heard from, oppos-
ing the proposals il they are in
imical to the employees interest
and vigorously supporting those
measures designed to promote
the welfare of employees. For
this reason the National Fedora
ton of Federal Employees is
frequently spoken of as Your
| Voice in Washington"
During the long fight for the
pay increase, which came into
effect July LIST, it spoke not only
for its membership but for all
Federal employees in the CLASH
fications affected. The Washing
ton headquarters of the organi-
cation did more however, than
raise its voice in favor of the
raise; it led the fight for the
much needed pay boost and was
backed up by the Navy and gov
ernment agencies.
Locally, the affairs of NFFE
are administered by Local Isl
whose officers are Submarine
Base employees. President is
David McCurdy; the first vice
president, George Graham; while
the secretary-treasurer is Mrs.
Rachel Hodnet.
Presentation of the employees
case at committee hearings in
! Washington involved extensive
j research First of all, NFFE had
to present facts and figures to
prove that the pay raise was JUS
t@ed; that unless an increase
were granted by Congress the
federal service would lose thous-
ands of key employees who could
| not afford to continue in the serv-
ice at old pay rates.
Months were spent in gather
ing figures to support NF'FE's
contention that wages and salar-
les of government employees
were completely out of line with
the rise in living costs; witnesses,
mostly federal employees, were
produced who told of the actual
hardShipS they and their families
suffered as a result of a wage
scale which was not keeping pace
with increasing costs of living.
1t was with this formidable
array of evidence that each at
| tempt to kill the pay bill, post
pone its passage or cut the raise
to a wholly inadequate figure,
was forestalled. And the fact that
NFEE's studies and analyses
were accepted without question
by legislators and Government
agencies is taken as an indication
of the respect shown in official
circles for the organizations
tact-finding activities.
NFEE was organized in Sep
TENDER 1917 "of, by and for Fed
eral employees" For half a cen
tury there had been no wage in
crease. Such benefits as retire
ment, classification, a standard
leave policy and other essentials
to a sound program of personnel
administration, were not even
talked of 20 years ago. In the
first year of its existence NFEE
took leading part in securing
a bonus for World War ! vet
Grams; fought for the first Retire
ment Law and the Classification
Act. AS the years rolled on, and
NFEE gathered strength and
MEMBERSHIP organization was
in the forefront in the move
mentS for Saturday half holt
day, cumulative annual and sick
! leave; extension of the merit syS-
TEN.
Sometimes years of effert were
required to establish improve
ments. During 1917, for instance,
the NFEE pioneered in propos-
ing time and one half for over
time work for all employees as
permanent principle; night diff
ferential pay; the 40-hour work
week; reduction of waiting per-
iods for within grade promotions
and holiday overtime pay. But it
was not until 1915 that these
| benefits were won. The fight for
the new Federal Employees Pay
Act, under which the per annum
pay raise was granted, was be-
gun in 1945 and through persis-
tent effort on the part of NEE
| the bill was enacted into law Ill
May this year.
| Now, with the raise Ill effect,
non-memberS of the NEE may
feel a pang of hurt pride that
| they were not members contrib
uting their support to fight
which benefits them as well as
members. Be that as it may,
NFEE has a broad1ninded policy
with respect to membership-no
one is forced to join-yet its voice
speaks for all. Moreover, Sub
marine Base employees are wei
come TO attend meeting of the