[h=2]To Cut Government Spending, Lay Off the Loafers[/h]
By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
WASHINGTON-With the sequester scheduled for March 1, everyone is looking for ways to save money. How about cutting the employees the federal government pays not to work for Uncle Sam?
In a new report issued earlier this month, the Office of Personnel Management announced that the federal government paid over $156 million in 2011 for some of its employees to work as representatives for government unions, up from $139 million in 2010 and $129 million in 2009.
In government language that would make George Orwell smile, the time that federal workers spend working for their unions and not working for taxpayers is termed "official time." According to the report, "Official time, broadly defined, is paid time off from assigned Government duties to represent a union or its bargaining unit employees."
In most workplaces, employees who don't work for the hours they are paid are called "loafers," "slackers," or worse. In the federal government, such workers are on "official time." Shirking never looked so good.
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