Evening star., 1951-10-25

VA LIN
increase the bill will call for has
not been decided, but Senator
Johnston says it will be enough
to help the annuitantS.
The South Carolinian said he
expects Congress to approve the
legislation promptly.
LEGISLATION had been introduced
during the past session OF Con-
gress to increase Federal annuities.
/ but the bill was forced into the
BACKGROUND because of the Gov
iernment pay raise legislation.
Also. the Civil Service Commission
sharply opposed the bill on the
ground it would deplete civil serV-
ice retirement funds.
! Senator Johnston is determined
to get an annuity increase Dill
through Congress next year. even
if the commission persists in Its
opposition. There may be an at
tempt to have Congress vote ad-
ditional funds to pay for the IN
crease. rather than to use the
funds now in the retirement sys-
TEN. This approach probably
would win the approval OF the
commission.
EMERGENCY UNITS - The
compromise approved by Congress
on the move to cut the salaries o1
many employees in the various
emergency agencies will result IL
very few wage cuts for these
workers.
The House, annoyed at high sal
aries paid to some employees in the
emergency agencies created as
result of the defense program, hae
voted to require these agencies tt
have an average salary no higher
than the rest of the Government
bureaus. This would have mean
salary cuts for many employees II
the emergency bureaus, such al
National Production Authority
Economic Sterilization Agenc!
and others. because there is +:
greater proportion of professiona
people and specialists in these
agencies than in other Fedora
bureaus.
! The Senate, however. modified
the provision and the House final
!. ~ agreed to compromise where
by salaries paid in the emergenc.
would be no higher than thoS'
paid for comparable jobs in othe
agencies. Since many Of the job
are of a special nature and hav
no counterpart in other agencies
no salary cuts will have to b
imposed. A handful of presen
, positions may have to be down
graded. The new provision vote'
by Congress, however. will hav
the effect of preventing som
emergency bureaus in the futur
from paying infiationary salarie
to new employees.
CREDIT The recent remarl
on the Senate floor by Senate
LANCER, Republican. of Nortl
Dakota that postal workers farce
better than Federal employees il
the amount of pay raise votet
: them "a $400 minimum as agains
; a $500 minimum for classified
workers in the lower brackets
because they are better organized
has stirred up quite debate il
Federal employe circles.
: Senator LANCER said the fac
that postal employees are prac
tically 100 per cent unionize
resulted in their getting NOR
liberal raises than classified EN-
ployes in the last two pay rails
bills enacted by Congress.
> Postal unions know how to ge
: things done" Senator LANCER de
&, clared. But the Government
+. classified employees are unorgan
| lied and they wander around aim
r lesSly. They're lost"
! Now. Lawrence P. Wainwright
: c. F. Sharkey and Floyd Swigget
vice presidents of the AFL Amer
! lean Federation of Government
Employees. one Of the major classi
fed employees unions, have issue
a statement in which they agre
with Senator LANCER.
While declaring that the AFG
t did what it could in pushing tn
pay raise legislation, the unio
officials acknowledge that a Il
more could have been done
y more employees were unionized.
"The classified employees, fror
our personal contacts with then
/. are either dense or lack the I'M
) tiative to join a Government unio
4 SO we can help them and the
families to get better Workin
conditions and better wages" tn
AFGE officials declared, Unit
the classified employes wake u