Unions, Progressives Blast Administration For Pay Freeze Proposal

Huffington Post, The

11/30/2010

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's decision to support a two-year pay freeze on federal employees is sparking yet another wave of angst and eyebrow raising among progressives.

The critics are the expected -- mainly progressive economists and union officials. And in addition to condemning the president's position on both policy and morality grounds, the question they're asking in private is, what exactly did the White House get in return for the chip it gave away?

"Today's announcement of a two-year pay freeze for federal workers is bad for the middle class, bad for the economy and bad for business," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "No one is served by our government participating in a 'race to the bottom' in wages. We need to invest in creating jobs, not undermining the ones we have. The president talked about the need for shared sacrifice, but there's nothing shared about Wall Street and CEOs making record profits and bonuses while working people bear the brunt. It is time to get our nation back on track, but we should not do so by placing an even greater burden on the middle class."

"This proposal to freeze federal pay is a superficial, panicked reaction to the deficit commission report," stated AFGE National President John Gage. "This pay freeze amounts to nothing more than political public relations. This is no time for scapegoating. The American people didn't vote to stick it to a VA nursing assistant making $28,000 a year or a border patrol agent earning $34,000 per year.

"President Obama asks federal workers to share the sacrifice, but it's unconscionable for him to attack the wages of federal working people while the millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street not only get their bailouts and astronomical bonuses; they also get their tax cuts," concluded Gage.

"It makes no sense to single them out for wage freezes at this time," said Tamara Draut, vice president of policy and programs at Demos.

Greg Anrig, vice president of programs at The Century Foundation said the move reinforced the concern that the focus of political debate in Washington is shifting from jobs to deficit reduction and fiscal austerity. "It's far to soon to be doing that," he said.

Sam Stein 
stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting 

Unions, Progressives Blast Administration For Pay Freeze Proposal