Unions Would Pass on ‘Cafeteria’ Offerings

The American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union have said in testimony and in prepared statements to the House civil service subcommittee that they oppose the idea of creating a cafeteria-style federal benefits program. The panel is considering such an arrangement-in which employees are given a certain amount of money to work with and apply it to the benefits they value most–as a possible recruiting and retention tool. Chairman Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., pointed out at a hearing that such programs are common in the private sector and said that federal workers have widely varying interests and could use such a program to tailor benefits to their own best use. However, the unions asserted that cafeteria plans can force employees into making choices among benefits that they said should be fully available to everyone, and that employers can use such plans to divert costs of health insurance and other benefits to employees by limiting the amount of money they provide to employees in such programs.