The
following is a statement AFGE released to the press today. AFGE
President John Gage has been conducting a series of interviews
with TV, radio and newspaper reporters lambasting the White House’s
proposal to freeze federal pay.
The
American Federation of Government Employees today decried President
Obama’s proposal to freeze pay for federal civilian employees in
2011 and 2012.
“This proposal to freeze federal pay is a superficial, panicked
reaction to the deficit commission report,” stated AFGE 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 a 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,” Gage added.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement on the federal pay freeze:
“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. 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.”