War of words heats up over 2010 pay raise

[unhappycamper]

War of words heats up over 2010 pay raise
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 10, 2009 21:12:58 EDT

Representatives of the nation’s largest advocacy group for military officers said the 2.9 percent basic pay raise for 2010 proposed by the Obama administration would insult service members in the short term and could lead to serious retention problems in the future.

The Military Officers Association of America has fired the latest volley in a fight over whether the 2010 military pay raise should match private-sector pay increases or continue a decade-old trend of closing the gap that grew in the 1980s and ’90s between average military and private-sector wages.

The dispute involves a modest 0.5 percentage point increase that MOAA and other military-related associations want added to the 2010 pay increase. This would add about $347 million to the cost of the 2010 military pay raise.

But the government’s costs could be far greater if Congress follows its usual policy of providing the same pay increase to federal civilian workers that is given to the military. The Obama budget calls for a modest 2 percent pay raise for federal workers, with some lawmakers already looking to boost that to 2.9 percent for all federal employees.

If the military gets the 3.4 percent raise called for by MOAA and other military groups, federal civilian supporters in Congress likely would like follow suit with a similar proposal that would add about $1 billion more to federal payroll costs.


Reest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_payraise_MOAA_031009w/%2e