Bearding Uncle Sam

Of all the roles that the Federal Government plays, perhaps the least familiar outside of Washington is that of boss. The Government is by far the nation's biggest employer. Its payrolls cover 2,600,000 people (not counting the military services) who perform almost every conceivable variety of job. The range runs through the alphabet from architect to zoologist and includes beauticians, cotton classifiers, archaeologists and even funeral directors. In years past, the Government had a reputation as a model employer, but, says A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany, "those days are long past." To many of his workers, Uncle Sam appears as a stingy, incurably bureaucratic, highhanded and neglectful boss.

Last winter's mail strike and this spring's air-traffic-controller "sick-out" dramatized the deep and spreading discontent among federal employees. Now unionized federal workers are openly talking about more strikes, despite the federal law that makes such action a crime punishable by a fine of $5.000 or a year in jail. Delegates to a Denver convention of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal union, two weeks ago shouted unanimous approval of an amendment that erased a no-strike clause from the union constitution. Partly because he opposed that move. Union President John Griner, 64, faced serious opposition to his re-election for the first time during his eight years in the post. Says Griner: "The Government is bringing on itself a situation where employees, particularly in the lower pay classifications, are going to withhold their services no matter what I do."

Pent-Up Emotions. The grievances draw considerable sympathy from the Nixon Administration's top union specialist, Assistant Labor Secretary Willie J. Usery Jr., who spoke at the convention. "Federal employees are falling behind in wages," said Usery before his talk. "There's a lot of pent-up emotion. I hadn't realized how bad it was. We must move with haste or we will have more strikes and work stoppages."

The A.F.G.E., which has tripled its membership to 310,000 since 1962 to become one of the fastest-growing affiliates of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., seeks a $6,000-a-year minimum for federal civil servants, compared with $4,125 today. The union is also pressing for the right to bargain for wages, which are now fixed by Congress. Federal workers won the power to negotiate about working conditions, grievance procedures and promotion policies under a 1962 executive order by President Kennedy.

Part of the new militancy among Government employees is unquestionably a response to the success of the postal workers' illegal strike; part reflects the increasing sense of anxiety among blue-collar workers everywhere. The mood is also a reaction to the mixed benefits and frustrations of the civil service system itself. Working for the Government ordinarily offers great job security, but this attraction has been somewhat dimmed by large cutbacks in employment in the Defense Department and NASA. Government employees can eat 750 lunches in federal cafeterias, take yearly 26-day vacations after 15 years and--the biggest lure of all--retire on full pensions as early as age 55, if they have put in 30 years.

For these benefits, the federal worker puts up with inflexible work rules that hamper his initiative and a rigid salary system that limits his ambition. The 15-grade scale, which covers the overwhelming bulk of white-collar civil servants, runs from G51 for messengers, who start at $4,125, to GS-15 for program managers, who begin at $22,885. A medical aide (GS-2) makes $4,125 to start, and a typist (GS-3) $5,212. There are virtually no merit increases, and the periodic raises within each category are small. It would take 18 years for a worker who starts as a G56 administrative assistant to lift his salary from $7,294 to $9,481 if he does not move up to a higher job grade.

The Government's official policy is to pay wages comparable to those in private industry; every year a survey establishes how far federal salaries lag and Congress legislates to narrow the gap --the following year. Thus the average federal worker's pay trails at least twelve months behind salaries in non-Government jobs.

Ready for Welfare. Inflation has further blunted the advances of lower-and middle-grade employees. In some parts of the country where living costs and pay scales are high, workers at the $7,202-a-year G55 level have earned 20% less than their counterparts in private enterprise. "The money I make is so low that I can apply for welfare." says Marvel Paine, a G54 hospital clerk with the Veterans Administration in Tacoma. Many federal workers moonlight; many Washington, D.C., taxi drivers working nights and weekends are Government employees.

Including a recently approved 6% across-the-board raise, the pay of the typical white-collar civil servant has been increased by about 55% in the past decade. To halt what had been an exodus of managers and key technicians from Government, salaries for the so-called supergrades, GS-16 to GS-18, have been raised as much as 80%. A GS-18 employee, typically a division chief in a department, earned $18,500 in 1960; today the pay is $35,505. Many private employers consider the top rates to be outrageously high. They complain that they cannot afford to match the federal levels for lawyers, economists and even public relations men.

Morale varies widely among departments and agencies and often changes with changing circumstances. NASA's glamour quickly faded when the current economy cuts began. The Bureau of the Budget has excellent esprit, mostly because it has many jobs in the higher pay grades and advancement comes quickly. The status of chiefs can be important. At the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which attracts a high proportion of idealists, elan plummeted when it became obvious that the Administration was cool to the goals of many department officials.

Preference for Officers. The least attractive Government jobs are in the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration and the General Services Administration, which mostly offer jobs in the lower classifications. At the Department of Defense, which employs 43% of all federal workers, civil servants complain that the Air Force hires so many retired officers for top civilian jobs that it cuts off career employees' hopes for advancement.

Given the conditions, it is not surprising that Government work attracts more timeservers than ambitious gogetters. Yet the need for imaginative and energetic federal employees has never been greater. Though Congress remains reluctant to release its grip on civil servants, the present arrangements are likely to increase further the Government's difficulties as an employer.

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