In the news: President Obama has proposed to freeze the pay of all federal workers. Demonstrating again his unique negotiating technique of giving concessions before negotiations begin, without asking for reciprocal concessions from the other side (also known as "pre-caving"), the President today announced that the pay of all federal employees will be frozen for two years.
NY Times: Obama to Freeze Pay for Most Federal Workers,
The president’s proposal will effectively wipe out plans for a 1.4 percent across-the-board raise in 2011 for 2.1 million civilian federal government employees, including those working at the Defense Department, but the freeze would not affect the nation’s uniformed military personnel. The president has frozen the salaries of his own top White House staff members since taking office 22 months ago.
The "high paid" federal employees include physicians at veteran's hospitals, and lawyers working to get Wall Street under control.
Question: Does this pay freeze also apply to the massive privatized federal contractor workforce, and the pay of the executives of companies who administer this workforce?
Update AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has released the following statement:
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.
