Sequestration Concerns Play Out

Sequestration Concerns Play Out

Critics of government spending have long complained that the sequester fears were overblown: The across-the-board spending cuts were not and will not be apocalyptic. And, in a lot of ways, they were right. Half of the doomsday predictions that The Washington Post looked at this week never happened, the paper reported. But that doesn’t mean the sequester was a big dud.

Some 680,000 of the Defense Department’s civilian personnel nationwide will begin taking occasional furlough days starting next week through the end of the year. And sequestration has reduced unemployment benefits across the country by more than $100 a week in some states, according to the National Employment Law Project. Continue reading “Sequestration Concerns Play Out”

AFGE Statement on Federal Salary Council Meeting Addressing Policies that Will Take Effect in January 2014

Press Releases | AFGE.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 19, 2012

Contact:Enid Doggett
(202) 639-6419
doggee@afge.org

AFGE Statement on Federal Salary Council Meeting Addressing Policies that Will Take Effect in January 2014

(WASHINGTON) The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) today issued the following statement on the Oct. 19, 2012 Federal Salary Council meeting addressing policies that will take effect in January 2014.

The Council voted to recommend the addition of twelve new localities for which the pay gap, as measured by Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, has been at least an average of 10% higher than the gap in the Rest of U.S. locality over the past four years. The Council also reiterated its support for changing the criteria for drawing pay locality boundaries in ways that emphasize commuting rates. All Council members agree that commuting rates are what define a local labor market, and that these data are the best way to understand regional pay. The Council also unanimously voted to ask BLS to restore the portion of the National Compensation Survey that was devoted exclusively to matching federal jobs with those in the private sector and state and local government. Continue reading “AFGE Statement on Federal Salary Council Meeting Addressing Policies that Will Take Effect in January 2014”

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