THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060017
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Before imposing half-true, totally biased propaganda on your readers, would you please check your facts?
I write in response to your repetition of Money magazine's recent report (``A well-paid sacrifice,'' editorial, Sept. 26).
What definition of comparability did the magazine use? Since 1969, the federal government has used formulas, set by law, to establish comparability. That worked fine until 1979, when inflation made equitable raises for federal employees ``harmful to the national well- being.'' That year we got 7 percent when we were due 10.4 percent. Those were the good old days.
Since 1979, the law has been changed twice to redefine the method of determining comparability, each lowering the amount due federal workers. We have not received a full cost-of-living raise, by any official formula, in the past 15 years.
Since 1979, the failure to grant promised equitable raises has cost federal white-collar workers the equivalent of two years' wages. Those of us approaching retirement under the old Civil Service Retirement System (changed in 1984 to Federal Employees Retirement System with Social Security and different federal contribution requirements) will lose one-third of our expected income - for the rest of our lives.
Discussing other losses to federal-employee benefits would take up more space than available. Yet, the attacks on all benefits, including one of the best-run health-care systems in existence, continues. No wonder half of senior federal employees would not recommend government service as a career for their children.
The attack on federal-employee benefits turns up every time the issue of raises for white-collar federal employees is before Congress. Your repetition of such propaganda does substantial disservice to the federal and military members that make up a large portion of your readership.
CLYDE W. BEASLEY JR.
Suffolk, Sept. 27, 1994 by CNB