Job Picture Still Unsettled as Federal Workers Return

Excuse Sandy Denny, the office supervisor at the Social Security Administration office in Huntington Beach, if she yawned at work Tuesday.

She had stayed up late Monday night to watch a broadcast about the fate of the federal budget--and the fate of her job.

As it turned out, President Bush and Congress agreed on a temporary funding bill early Tuesday to end a three-day federal government shutdown. And people like Denny trickled into work a few hours later with a mixture of joy, irritation and relief.

“It’s very unsettling,” Denny said.

And it’s not necessarily the end.

The temporary spending measure gives congressional leaders until Oct. 19 to complete work on a $500-billion budget package. Another stalemate could develop in 10 days. Tense negotiations over specific tax increases and spending cuts are expected, with lobbyists clamoring for special treatment by Congress.

“We are all frustrated, not knowing day to day if we report to work or not,” said Larry Boland, district manager of the Social Security offices in Ventura and Oxnard, who until the last-minute budget reprieve was planning to report to work Tuesday just long enough to dismiss his entire staff.

William V. Evans, an Internal Revenue Service auditor in the Federal Building in Los Angeles and vice president of a chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union, was more cynical.

“All along I’ve felt this (threatened shutdown) was just a tactic to try and get something done on the budget,” said Evans, 56, who has worked for the IRS for 21 years.

The consternation of federal workers was rooted not only in the machinations of Congress but in years of frustration over wages that they believe are too low.

In the last decade, because of budget cuts, federal salaries have fallen about 30% behind private-sector pay.

Improvements appeared possible in congressional budget hearings last month. The Senate approved an amendment authorizing a $5-billion program to raise federal pay by linking most government salaries to comparable jobs in local markets--the first time such regional adjustments had been introduced to the federal pay system.

John N. Sturdivant, president of the 700,000-member American Federation of Government Employees, called Tuesday for a rally in front of the White House on Thursday to urge Bush and Congress “to build a consensus . . . and ensure that this (shutdown) is never repeated.”

“We must stop the use of federal workers as pawns in this never-ending game of political chess and come up with a compromise package that does not once again unfairly place the burden of this country’s financial woes on federal workers and retirees,” Sturdivant said.

Government workers first began to feel anxious in August when various departments notified some employees of potential furloughs if the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced-budget law took effect. As the new fiscal year approached on Oct. 1 without a budget, talk turned to the possibility of a complete shutdown.

National parks and federal monuments were closed over the Columbus Day weekend after Congress failed to pass a bipartisan budget compromise and Bush vetoed a stopgap spending bill, leaving the government without legal authority to spend any money.

Most federal workers had been told to report to work as usual on Tuesday, all the while aware that “non-essential” workers ranging from IRS auditors to meat inspectors would be sent home if no budget compromise had been reached overnight.

“It’s childish to have to go through this every year,” said Ed Ramirez, a Huntington Beach Social Security claims representative, who said he would have been forced to get part-time work if budget cuts had been implemented.

Like other federal workers interviewed Tuesday, Ramirez said he is reluctant to make plans unless a budget is made final before Oct. 19.

“I just hope to God that we’re not in the same position on the 19th and we don’t have to go through this nonsense again, he said.”

Added Bonnie Brown, regional director of a small union that represents workers at two Navy bases near Oxnard: “The way I look at it, members of Congress are the only non-essential workers.”

Baker reported from Los Angeles, Efron from Orange County. Kenneth R. Weiss and Joanna M. Miller also contributed from Ventura.