<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Hundreds of workers at Tinker Air Force Base are faced with a major decision about whether to take an early retirement.The Department of Defense is offering an early buyout to as many as 750 civilian employees. They would be offered cash payments of up to $25,000 plus their retirement.Some workers told us it\u2019s just the latest in a series of life changing cutbacks. Government Employees Union President James Schmidt says they haven\u2019t had a cost of living increase in three years and the furlough, now in week two, slashes another 20 percent from paychecks over a 10-week period.Schmidt said, \u201CIt\u2019s disappointing. It really is. There\u2019s been significant changes in our efficiency since my grandfather\u2019s day and we\u2019ve become better at what we do. And we\u2019re more efficient and faster at doing it. So it really doesn\u2019t make sense to me. That the better we do, the faster we do it, the more money we save the taxpayers, the more hurt we go through.\u201DPnuedraulics Technician Rick Stuart has worked at Tinker for 32 years. He says he\u2019ll take the buyout but isn\u2019t happy about it.Stuart said, \u201CHere we are we\u2019re furloughed and Michelle Obama and her two daughters are flying somewhere to go see a concert and every time she goes somewhere, it\u2019s a $2 million budget. Stuff like that, the government waste that goes on and then they try to balance it on us you know, on the backs of the civilian workforce.\u201DCrime footer"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koco.com/article/750-tinker-workers-offered-early-buyout/4294153>