rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of such Act, and shall be subject to the approval of the Civil Service Commission.".

SEC. 704. The proviso contained in the second sentence of section 12 of the Act of May 29, 1884 (62 Stat. 198 as amended and supplemented; 21 U.S.C. 113a), authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to employ and fix the compensation of technical experts and scientists for research and study of foot-and-mouth disease and other animal diseases, is amended to read as follows: ": Provided, That the number so employed shall not exceed five and that the maximum compensation for each shall not exceed the highest rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended.".

SEC. 705. Section 203(b) (2) of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 429; 42 U.S.C. 2473(b) (2)), as amended, authorizing the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish and fix the compensation of four hundred and twenty-five scientific, engineering, and administrative positions, is amended by striking out, in the second sentence, ", except that (A) to the extent the Administrator deems such action necessary to the discharge of his responsibilities, he may appoint and fix the compensation (up to a limit of $19,000 a year, or up to a limit of $21,000 a year for a maximum of thirty positions) of" and by inserting in lieu thereof “, except that (A) to the extent the Administrator deems such action necessary to the discharge of his responsibilities, he may appoint and fix the compensation (at not to exceed the highest rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended, or, for a mximum of thirty positions, up to the highest rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of the Classification Act, which will be in effect on or after January 1, 1965) of".

SEC. 706. That part of the proviso in section 161d. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (71 Stat. 613; 42 U.S.C. 2201), fixing a limit of $19,000 on the compensation of scientific and technical personnel, is amended by striking out the words "up to a limit of $19,000)" and inserting in lieu thereof "up to a limit of the highest rate of grade 18 of the General Schedule of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended)".

EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 707. The foregoing provisions of this title shall become effective on the first day of the first pay period which begins on or after January 1, 1963. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions?

Mr. YARBOROUGH. I think this is a very fine and informative statement, Mr. Chairman. It is going to be very helpful to us in the discussions on this bill that take place.

I would like to congratulate Mr. Jaspan on his research on the tables. I almost said comparative or comparable tables and caught myself because of the heat that is attached to that word "comparability." As we study this bill maybe we had better substitute some

other word.

Now, this is going to be very helpful, Mr. Jaspan, in our deliberations on this bill.

The CHAIRMAN. Any other questions?

Senator BOGGS. No questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you again, Mr. Jaspan, for appearing before us this morning.

Our next witness will be Mr. James K. Langan, who is the operations director of the Government Employees Council, AFL-CIO. STATEMENT OF JAMES K. LANGAN, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES COUNCIL, AFL-CIO

Mr. LANGAN. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is James K. Langan, operations director, Government Employees Council, AFL-CIO, a federation of unions representing some 23 affiliates with approximately 650,000 members. I wish to express the appreciation and thanks of the council to the chairman and

members of this committee for scheduling these hearings on the important problem of Federal employees' pay now before the committee.

You have already heard testimony offered by the responsible representatives of the postal and classified organizations that are affiliated with the Government Employees Council. In a most capable way they have brought the attention of this committee to figures and statistics from a number of reliable sources, including the Government's own Bureau of Labor & Statistics. Therefore, I felt in the interest of clarity and a desire not to be repetitive, that I would confine my statement on this all-important subject to general comment.

The need for a prompt and substantial wage increase for the postal and classified worker in Government service is imperative and we hope this committee will act with reasonable promptness in considering the testimony and adopting a favorable report.

In order to properly evaluate the situation of the Government worker, one must go back to a basic period when salaries of Government employees were on a reasonable comparable basis with those engaged in private industry. Since 1945, there has been a widening gap between the earnings of the Government worker and the worker in private industry. The worker in private industry has had his greatest advancement in wages since 1949, a trend which has been continuing up to the present time. Statistics show that the average employee in private industry has received an annual increase since 1949 while the Government employees, on the other hand, received only five increases and each one was insufficient to catch up with the private employee. During this period, the Congress has passed four additional bills to provide for increases, but these were vetoed after passage, which aggravated the situation of low pay.

We are in full agreement with the contention of Mr. Elmer B. Staats, Deputy Director of the Bureau of the Budget, that the Consumer Price Index factor has no independent validity as a basis for adjusting salaries. This Consumer Price Index, often erroneously called cost-of-living index, was carefully explained to this committee in 1960 by Ewan Clague, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics, when he pointed out that the name of the Consumer Price Index was changed from cost of living in 1945 because of the general misunderstanding of its nature. He stated that the statistics measure the effect of price changes and price changes only on the cost of living of the average wage and clerical workers salary. It did not measure the total change in their cost of living.

At the present time, there is a trend among unions representing employees in private industry to negotiate a wage scale which provides a proper base wage at the time of negotiation and provides for increases annually for the next 2 or 3 years, whichever is the life of the contract. In addition to these projected increases, there is often a clause which would provide supplemental increases based upon the change in the BLS Consumer Price Index.

In an article appearing in the current issue of the U.S. News & World Report of February 19, 1962, the news article was headlined "One Hundred Dollars-One Hundred Fifty Dollar Wage; It's Common Now." The article went on to show that the average weekly pay of production workers in the hard goods industry is $103.9. It further stated that the weekly rates for production workers in

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making automobile bodies headed the list with $150 a week, as an average employee payment, with over a dozen or more categories receiving various amounts less than that down to the trucking wages averaging $110 per week.

We feel strongly that Congress should pass a bill that would bring the salaries of Government employees to the point where they would be able to enjoy the standard of living that is permitted people in comparable positions in private industry and which could serve as a proper base to project remedial steps to follow the pattern of wages in private employment.

We, therefore, urge that the Senate bill S. 2712 be amended by striking out all of the language following the enactment clause and substituting the bill by Congressman Morrison, H.R. 9531, for postal workers and H.R. 9935 providing increases for the classified workers of the Federal Government.

I wish to thank the chairman and members of this considerate and sympathetic committee for granting this opportunity to appear before it in the interest of the Federal employees.

I would also like to direct the attention of the committee to S. 1713 which, in a partial manner, takes care of the problem of the professional and technical engineers, which is a situation peculiar to their type of position. It will be explained more fully by our affiliate representative from the American Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers at a later time in this schedule.

I wish to thank the chairman and members of this considerate and sympathetic committee for granting me this opportunity to appear before you in the interest of the Federal employees.

The CHAIRMAN. We are certainly grateful to you, Jim, for this very worthwhile statement that you have given to the committee. Are there any questions?

If not, we thank you again for coming.

We will call our next witness, Mr. John G. Brady, who is chairman of the committee on legislation, the National Association of Internal Revenue Employees.

STATEMENT OF JOHN G. BRADY, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INTERNAL REVENUE EMPLOYEES, ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE BURSACH, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE SECRETARY-TREASURER, AND JOSEPH S. SNEAD, ASSOCIATE TO THE CHAIRMAN

Mr. BRADY. Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee, I am John G. Brady, Richmond, Va., chairman of the Committee on Legislation for the National Association of Internal Revenue Employees. I am an employee of Internal Revenue Service and presently am appearing before this committee on annual leave.

With me today is our national executive secretary-treasurer, George Bursach, from our national headquarters office, Washington, D.C., and Joseph S. Snead, my associate from the legislative branch, from Washington, D.C. Internal Revenue Service office, also on annual leave.

Our association is composed only of Internal Revenue Service employees and has over 26,204 members. Our membership is composed of both clerical and technical employees.

Our national convention of 700 delegates in Austin, Tex., in September 1961, pointed out the following through resolution No. 13 relating to pay raise:

Whereas classified personnel have failed to receive the percentage increases necessary in past raises to reach proper salary levels based on standard of living costs; and

Whereas the increases of salary to classified personnel have continued to fall behind and have not kept abreast of similar classes of employees in private industry; and

Whereas, the cost of living as evidenced by all recognized indexes, surveys, reports, et cetera, has continued to rise: Be it therefore

Resolved, That we petition Congress for an upward adjustment of the pay structure of the civil service employee to restore the economic status of classified personnel.

I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the chairman and members of the committee for this opporutnity to present the views of the National Association of Internal Revenue Employees on the subject of salary, a most important item concerning our welfare.

Government employees are having a difficult time regaining their position in our economic society, which has been impaired by a long and consistent advancement in living costs.

Government Consumer Price Index still shows the following sample items have increased each year since 1955: Gas, electricity, solid fuels, haircuts, beauty shop service, movie admissions, rent, auto repairs, dry cleaning-pressing, round steak, bacon, frankfurters, potatoes, eggs.

Living costs have been going upward for some time.

Let me say here our organization greatly appreciates the decision of the committee to hold these public hearings on the present pay problems. And may I assure you it is a real problem. It is a pressing problem. It needs no study to determine that it actually exists; it is self-evident.

Finally, it is a problem that calls for correction before the 87th Congress concludes its work.

We are proud to be employees of the Federal Government and we recognize the many responsibilities that attach to being public servants. We endorse economy in government; we favor control over inflation, and we realize that we must from time to time be identified as "the last with the least" to help our Government achieve these desired objectives. However, this has not been without personal sacrifice on the part of Federal employees, and we have again reached the point where the salary inequities must be adjusted if these sacrifices are not to be intensified.

I would like to insert in the record the remarks of the President to the Joint Conference of Regional Commissioners and District Directors of the Internal Revenue Service, dated May 1, 1961:

Commissioner, Mr. Secretary, I came over here this morning to express my great interest in the work that you are doing. I don't know of any other society which attempts what this country attempts to do, which requires really the goodwill and support of the citizens of the United States in contributing a large share of their income to the maintenance of the American society.

You are the point of contact with them, the people who work for you, and therefore the kind of spirit which you are able to inculcate into your people has a good deal to do with the success or failure of this great national effort. Heavy burdens are placed upon the American society today. Over half of the money that is collected under taxes goes to our national defense. A good deal of the rest goes to other programs of great importance to our national security. Out of a total national income of $500 billion, nearly $90 billion are collected in taxes by the Federal Government. Other billions are collected by the cities and the States. That is a tremendous burden to place upon any society, and yet the American people have been willing to assume it.

I think it is our responsibility to make sure here in the National Government that every dollar that is collected by the Internal Revenue Service, every dollar that is paid by our people, is spent wisely, for a useful national purpose, for a purpose which advances our national interest.

I want to commend you for the efforts that you are making to improve our Service, to make it easier for people to understand exactly what their responsibility is. I hope that you will impress upon the agents of the Internal Revenue Service how much we are dependent upon them, on their courtesy, on their efficiency, on their integrity, on their fairness.

I hope that here in Washington we will continue to work so that the burdens of the tax system become as fairly distributed as possible, so that they are distributed in a way which stimulates our economy and stimulates our growth to the extent it is possible, and not retard it.

This is a matter which is receiving great concern under the direction of the Commissioner, under the leadership of the Secretary of the Treasury, under the counsel of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Surrey--and it is a matter of great personal interest to me.

This is a civil service area. It is going to be directed and administered in that fashion. I want you to understand that we are strongly behind you. We expect the best from you, and I can assure you that we will do the best we can here. This is a difficult time in the life of our country. Our obligations spread around the world. It is becoming more obvious that the United States is the great source of strength not only to the people of this area of the world but also to people stretched all around the globe. They all look to us. And therefore the obligations upon us are many.

I commend you for your work. I express the hope that in the future we can all of us constantly improve our responsibilities to the public interest.

WHY WE AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES REALLY NEED A SALARY INCREASE

In proposing a salary increase for the Federal employee, consideration should be given to the differential in salary (and other fringe benefits) between the worker in private industry and his counterpart in the Internal Revenue Service.

In any private industry, the "sales force" or the group within the organization which "sells" the product and thereby brings financial stability to the company, is usually the better paid employee for obvious reasons. Without him, the company withers on the financial vine. A similar parallel may be drawn in the Federal civil service, wherein the Internal Revenue Service, as the tax-collecting agency, is responsible for producing most of the financial means by which the Federal Government is operated.

Employees for the most part in the Internal Revenue Service are specialists in a highly technical field of financial operation. They must be expert in practically all phases of the fiscal affairs of their fellow citizens in order to knowingly and adequately assume the vitally important Federal tax collection and service assignment. In addition, such employees are required to be familiar with an everchanging picture of legal and technical developments related to tax work.

Studies by various survey groups have determined that the salaries paid to Internal Revenue personnel, particularly those in the tech