Union leader John Gage was elected to his third term as president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employees' union in the nation, yesterday. In speeches and interviews following his re-election, Gage offered his opinion of President Obama. In the main, Gage praised Obama, and lauded him as the country's most "pro-worker President" ever. However, Gage was not too happy about Obama's promotion of a pay-for-performance system which he says makes sense in theory but which can also be exploited to keep wage rates low. He says the union has asked the Obama administration to refrain from use of the phrase. Overall, Gage graded Obama with "a real solid B." Gage faces trouble in his upcoming term as his union and the NTEU fight for the right to represent the many airport security employees.
See "Union leader dings Obama for promoting Pay-for Performance", Joe Davidson, The Washington Post, August 27, 2009