OMB rejects FAA pay raise agreement

The Office of Management and Budget has rejected a pay raise negotiated by Federal Aviation Administration officials and a union representing employees at the agency's headquarters. In February, FAA and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 26 agreed on a deal in which FAA headquarters employees would get an 8 percent raise over the next six years, above and beyond locality and across-the-board and pay raises given federal employees. According to AFSCME Executive Director Carl Goldman, the only thing left for either side to do was sign on the dotted line. "We had an agreement, then FAA did something that frankly I've never seen happen before," Goldman said. The FAA, unlike many other federal agencies, has the authority to negotiate salary agreements with employees because under federal law it has its own pay system that is separate from the government's General Schedule.

After reaching the agreement, however, the FAA referred the contract to the Office of Management and Budget. OMB rejected the contract because of pay parity issues with other federal employees. According to an FAA spokesman, OMB can review a contract when the terms of the contract have a bearing on the budget. He also added that not all contracts must be approved by OMB, just those contracts that could affect the budget. OMB spokesman Chris Ullman said it is within the agency's oversight role to review contracts. "We had the prerogative, and we exercised the prerogative," Ullman said. "The key issue had to do with pay equity relative to other federal workers." But Goldman disagrees. "Under federal sector labor law, once the agreement is reached the parties are required to sign it," he said. "There is no provision for OMB to review a contract. The only thing that is in the law is the requirement that the parties sign the contract. OMB is not a party to these negotiations." Goldman and union officials filed a complaint against the FAA with the Federal Labor Relations Authority last week, and are awaiting action. "We have an agreement and it is not legal for management to now give OMB some type of veto power," Goldman said. "I think all they have done is set morale way down, they have made a lot of employees very angry, and I think it doesn't make sense from a management perspective," he said.