Union Reaction is Harsh

The two largest federal unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, reacted harshly to the Volcker Commission’s report, particularly its proposals to give management greater leeway over setting salaries and rewarding performance. AFGE said the proposals risk corruption and the takeovers of federal jobs by contractors with few controls, while NTEU criticized the proposal to increase pay at high levels as damaging to morale of other employees and termed the idea to merge agencies premature before the results of the Department of Homeland Security merger are known.