10
University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Thursday, Jan. 23, 1986
Gramm-Rudman cuts begin March 1 New law may fire 300,000 workers
United Press International
WASHINGTON — As many as 300,000 federal workers could be laid off beginning in October because of cuts forced by the Gramm-Rudman balanced-budget law, the head of the largest federal employees union said yesterday.
Kenneth Blaylock, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 700,000 workers, also said his union is developing a political strategy to make Gramm-Rudman a big issue in the 1986 elections.
Blaylock said he does not expect widespread layoffs of federal workers when 4.3 percent cuts in the 1986 budget take effect March 1. But he said there is no way a large reduction in force can be avoided when more drastic cuts begin Oct. 1 this year for fiscal 1987.
Blaylock and his aides predicted that up to 300,000 federal workers could be laid off, based on their estimates of a 20 percent reduction in personnel costs in the 1987 budget.
A 20 percent reduction would endanger 400,000 federal workers. Blaylock said, but he expects government agencies to finesse the number down to 300,000 by cutting elsewhere.
One of the first effects of the new law will be a reduction in meat and poultry safety inspections, he predicted. He said the union has learned of plans to cut inspection time in meat plants to reduce costs.
To combat Gramm-Rudman,
Blaylock said, the AFGE fitted a suit
last week challenging the law.
"We will make it the centerpiece of the 1986 elections." Blavlock said.
Gramm-Rudman is a way to cut programs across the board, he said, so that "none of them is going to work."
"It it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Government becomes ineffective and then you privatize it, which is where they've been going all along," he said, citing proposals to sell some government functions to private industry.
Blaylock also said his union has frozen political action committee funds to congressmen who voted for Gramm-Rudman.
The coordinated strategy to oppose the new law may include coalitions with senior citizens and veterans
groups to hold congressman accountable back home.
Blaylock said the federal government needs more revenue and that corporate taxes should be raised.
Many federal workers are especially alarmed about possible layoffs because of new regulations linking job security more closely to performance — weakening seniority provisions.
The regulations by the Office of Personnel Management are scheduled to take effect Feb. 3 for most of the government's 1.4 million white-collar civilian employees. Using a point system involving seniority and annual performance ratings, some workers with less than 10 years of service could be laid off before more junior employees.
Federal agency accepts hiring goals
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The National Endowment for the Humanities grudgingly agreed yesterday to set goals for recruiting women and minorities, but its director said women and blacks already held most of its jobs.
The endowment's acting chairman, John Agresto, said at a news conference that a congressional directive mandating hiring and promoting on the basis of sex or race was "nothing short of tragic."
He said women held 69 percent of all positions at the independent
federal agency, which was established 20 years ago to support research, scholarship, education and general programs in the humanities.
The flap at the endowment came in the midst of a prolonged administration fight over a 20-year-old executive order requiring employers that do business with the government to set hiring goals for women and minorities.
Attorney General Edwin Meese wants President Reagan to repeal the order; Labor Secretary William Brock has been arguing against renoel
The endowment, which has 245
employees, faced a congressional directive passed last month to submit goals and timetables for hiring and promoting minorities and women. For the past two years it has refused to do so.
"We will abide by the law because we must." Agresto said in a letter to Clarence Thomas, chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Agresto said the directive required the endowment to state its intention to hire and promote, noting race and sex.
The directive signals the first time Congress has declared that individuals should be considered for employment on the basis of such criteria, he said.
"No playing with words can sanitize the fact that goals, no less than quotas, call upon us to use a person's race or sex as a serious factor in hiring, firing or promotion," he said.
The agency, which has an annual budget of $132 million, is divided into five divisions. Three are headed by women. Nearly 10 percent of the staff in the top professional ranks are black women — nine times the government average.
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IMPROVE YOUR STUDY SKILLS Attend the ACADEMIC SKILL ENHANCEMENT WORKSHOP Covering: Time Management
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Monday, January 27
6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
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ing: Time Management Textbook Reading Listening and Notetaking
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Monday January 27
IF HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS,
..CA.J
then, church is where your liver works. It is a place that manufactures new strength for your blood-lines, that filters harmful guilt-trip residues, and that converts kinetic energy into potential. The next time you go to church give thanks for what is happening.
Or, when you recognize the community which does those things for you, know that you have identified your church.
Next to your heart plays this organ; the liver. Home is important, but so is hope. We like to think that our church is full of livers producing 500 functions of hope.
Lutheran Campus Ministry
Sunday Worship:10:30a.m.
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On Campus
Latin American Solidarity will show the documentary "Guzapaz: The Face of War in El Salvador" following a rice and beans dinner at 6 p.m. today at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 2014 Oread Ave.
The KU KI-Akiido Club will meet at 5:30 p.m. today in Robinson Center for a demonstration by Koichi Kashiwaya.
The School of Education Student Organization will meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow in 3 Bailey Hall.
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The Student Assistance Center is offering a series of classes on reading for comprehension and speed from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. today, Jan. 30 and Feb. 6. A $15 materials fee should be paid at the center, 121 Strong Hall.
*Lawrence police said a wheelchair valued at $139 was stolen between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Tuesday from Watkins Hospital.
A Wichita man was hit by a nickel thrown by a fan at the KU men's basketball game Tuesday night in Allen Field House, KU police said. He was not injured. No other incidents were reported at the game.
A blue nylon backpack, clipboard, two textbooks and a calculator were stolen between 4:20 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. from the Burge Union Bookstore. The property was valued at $198.
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