Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-21

pay cOnnmlCLee. buJ the ADMIN
would neither be workable nor
approved by Congress.
Instead. the administration
is prepared to recommend t.
Congress fiat pay raise fol-
Government classified and pos
tai workers Of about 6 per cent
This figure might be boosted
to 71a per cent If some adj
ministration officials can sell
President Eisenhower on this
higher figure.
The subcabinet committee on
| pay never did reach complete
accord on how Federal salaries
should be fixed. There seemed
general agreement that an in
dependent salary board should
lbe established to set Federal
salaries for classified and pos
tai workers. within maximum
and minimum grades for each
job set by Congress.
Some members of the grour
wanted the salary board to ad.
LUST pay on the basis of COM
parable industry area or re-
gional rates where a Federal
worker was employed. Others
advocated that the salary board
should Ak the salaries on q
national industry pay pattern
However. administration ON.
Gals disclose that the White
House will not propose any
salary board setup for Federal
employees, either on a local
area or national rate basis. In
other words, no attempt will
be made to change the present
system whereby Congress has
sole jurisdiction in fixing the
salaries Of classified and postal
workers.
The administration, however
probably will propose more
flexibility by the Civil Service
Commission in setting salaries
in hard-to-fill jobs,
The administration is ex-
pected to recommend that the
csc be allowed to authorize
Federal agencies to hire col
lege graduates at salary grade
instead of grade S as is the
case today in such jobs as
scientists, engineers and other
professional positions.
Also. authority probably will
be asked for the Post Office De-
partment to hire employees al
above-minimum steps of the
grade. The Civil Service Com
mission now has this authority
for hard-to-fill classified jobs.
With the proposed greater
fiexibility in fixing salaries,
plus a fiat Federal pay raise,
the administration feels that
much of the Governments cur
rent problems in attracting and
retaining employees will be
solved.
To help the situation still
further, the administration Is
expected to propose that Con-
gress lift the restriction on the
number of oslo to 10 jobs
t$12,900 to SIC, 900 a year, SC
that more top-fiight employees
can be paid these salaries. Also
authority for more Public Law
30S Jobs (paying up to $4,000
a year, will be asked for.
Incidentally, the sub-cabinet
pay committee did recognize
the urgency for increasing clas-
sified and postal employe sal
laries as soon as possible next
year and recommended that
this be done. However, no sal
airy recommendation was made,
although many members felt
that the amount should be at
least 71a per cent.
4 4 + +
VITAL BATTLE - The
National Postal Transport As
ISOLATION, one of the "big three"
AFL CLIO postal employee
unions. is engaged in a tough
battle that could affect its
future existence as an organiza-
ton.
The Post Office Department
has embarked on a series of
moves to abolish postal trans
portation terminals and trans
fer the employees, who are
members of the NPTA, to the
Jurisdiction of the post Offices
in the various cities. Already
such orders have gone into eff
feet in Los Angeles and Billings,
Mont. Postal officials justify
the moves for reasons of econ
omy.
NPTA President Paul Nagle
o~A ivad,,c4r;al eo1~ofo ,x, Wal