Not surprisingly John Gage, the head of the American Federation of Government Employees (the Union for Federal workers) came out against this move making the following statement:
Two unfunded wars, stock market collapse and trying to solve this deficit by going after working people's salary — I just expected more from the Obama administration.
This is where unions really bother me. As a small business owner we put a pay freeze in place for lower level employees and then we cut the salary of all the managers and owners. We did this to stay in business not because we liked it. We didn't hide behind all of our past failures that could have saved us money as rationale for maintaining unsustainable raises. The fact was that the economy was down and we needed to adjust to the new situation we found ourselves in.
I would respect the union if instead of complaining about a freeze they accepted it and spent their time finding other areas of the budget that could be cut. They should offer solutions instead of whining. They are acting like they are the only ones who are being asked to sacrifice. The economy is bad and it doesn't matter who is to blame. I didn't see the federal employees union lobbying against the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. They weren't spending union dues to put stiffer regulations on Wall Street that would have prevented the gambling that led to the economic collapse. They didn't offer solutions to the budget deficit when times were good. If you just sit on the sidelines and watch you can't affect the outcome of the game. Unfortunately that is what the Federal Employees Union is doing now, acting like the problems of the past were obvious and they warned of the impending doom. They didn't want to be part of the solution then and they certainly aren't offering to help now and that is the lack of responsibility that really bugs me about unions.
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