News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

NOTE: We have been having trouble reaching OPM Mainstreet over the last week or so. We will continue to post New OPM AM news briefs in as timely a manner as is possible.

The following news summaries are from OPM AM, the daily newsletter of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM AM is available on OPM Mainstreet, the agency's electronic bulletin board, at 202-606-4800.

THE FEDERAL DIARY--Today's Federal Diary provides a sneak preview of the 1997 white-collar pay scale for the 300,000 federal employees in the Washington-Baltimore area."Workers here will get pay adjustments of 3.33 percent. Feds in Richmond will get a 3.14 percent increase; in Philadelphia, 2.66 percent; and in the Norfolk area, 2.97 percent. The raise will take effect in January. Postal workers are not included. Federal retirees will get an unrelated 2.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment in January" (The Washington Post).

PRUNE BOOK' MAY DISCOURAGE SOME FROM SEEKING GOVERNMENT PLUMS'--"A nonprofit group yesterday offered the Clinton administration's incoming political appointees tips on how to survive and succeed in the government, a place of tough prune jobs' not plums,' they said....Officials at the Council for Excellence in Government said, individuals seeking presidential appointments should think through why they want a government post. Appointees who serve their president best are usually those who have careers that don't need a boost from government service and aren't going on an ego trip" (The Washington Post).

INTERNAL CIA STUDY TO ASK WHY OFFICERS ARE QUITTING--"The CIA has begun an internal investigation into why large numbers of its younger clandestine operatives and intelligence analysts are quitting. The investigation by the agency's inspector general began after agency officials noticed a disproportionate number of resignations over the past few years' in one of the clandestine service's divisions, according to CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield....Intelligence experts offered a range of opinions on the seriousness of the morale problem the CIA now faces, but agreed that the end of the Cold War has changed the nature of intelligence work and led the agency to emphasize less traditional fronts, such as combating illegal drugs" (The Washington Post).

FDA CHIEF ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION--"Dr. David A. Kessler, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner who has fought for the regulation of tobacco, worked to standardize nutrition labeling and taken steps to speed the federal drug approval process, has decided to resign after six tumultuous years at the agency, FDA officials said yesterday. Kessler said in an interview that he was stepping down for personal and family reasons and because he felt he had completed the work he had hoped to do at the agency" (The Sun).

UNION FILES SUIT TO STOP LAYOFFS PLANNED AT IRS--"The National Treasury Employees Union filed suit yesterday to stop the Internal Revenue Service from moving ahead with plans to lay off workers next March. The union said the IRS plans to notify more than 1,600 employees in mid-January that they are at risk for a reduction in force,' or rif. Federal law requires agencies to give 60-day notices to employees who may be laid off or demoted" (The Washington Post).

WOMEN LIKE THEIR WORK--"If you believe what you read and hear in the media, you'd think that the American working woman is a total wreck....Few stories that have been reported on so extensively are as false as the saga of the miserable working woman....Since the mass movement of women into paid jobs began in the 1970s, literally hundreds of studies on their emotional and physical health have painted a very clear picture: Paid employment offers a solid health benefit for women regardless of their income group. The retail workers and the secretary share in enhanced good health along with the lawyer and the doctor" (Monday, The Washington Times).