European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 a a a the stars and stripes tuesday october 23,1990naf agencies in Usa eur starting Merit pay system with the new year by Rosemary Sawyer despite employees fears the test showed that by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer Heidelberg Germany a . Army Europe non appropriated fund organizations Are to switch in january to a revamped personnel system that a designed to Reward workers for performance and eliminate regular raises. As Many As 5,000 of the commands 11,000 non appropriated fund employees will be included in the so called expo program based on business concepts the . Government copied from private Industry. Usa eur conducted a test of the experimental personnel office project in Heidelberg and Stuttgart for two years before it received the defense departments approval for use throughout the command. About 1,300 workers took part in the test. Expo includes Only . Non appropriated fund employees in the asps a and ses pay Scales. Blue Collar workers in Nail and is pay Scales and local nationals Are excluded. The Blue Collar workforce represents 50 percent or More of usage urn a total . Naf workforce. Expo allows managers to fire or demote poor performers and promote achievers. It also provides a Means for managers to demote or Lay off workers for business or budgetary reasons. Expo is set up to give workers a an incentive to give their All to a business so that the business does turn a profit. That was not necessarily so evident or so real under the traditional system a said Tony Pinto chief of the Usa eur civilian personnel division Naf Branch. A i think it is self evident that those Naf limited producers that done to produce Revenue or done to produce enough to turn a profit a serious consideration has to be Given to the continuance of their existence. And that again is just Good business  the program Abandons the traditional Naf pay Scales in favor of numbered salary ranges called pay bands. When expo goes into effect current employees expo pay bands pay band salary Ranga pay Grados Covard 1 $7,931 -$13,315 As/ps-110 As/ps-4 2 $11,792-$15,152 As/ps-5 to As/ps-6 3 $13,002-$32,00o As/ps-7 to ua-08 4 $24,000 -$50,000 ua-09 to ua-12 $ $42,000-$76,200 ua-13 to a is 6 $69,000 $76,200 ses 1-4 and ua-16 to ua-18 will be placed in the pay band appropriate for their salaries. For example a ua-9 computer Programmer earning $25,000 would be placed in pay band 4. The Programmer could then receive pay adjustments up and Down within the Range of the pay band. A there will be no change in pay during the actual conversion a Pinto said. A any change that takes place in classification pay band pay rate that a Naf employee receives will have to be sometime after that persons in the  managers award raises based on the workers achievements. Under the program a workers Only guaranteed raise would be a Cost of living pay boost mandated by Congress. Only workers who receive excellent or commendable performance ratings Are eligible for bonuses or raises under expo. Managers Are required to rate workers once every 12 months but the system is geared to More frequent appraisals Pinto said. A favourable rating however a does no to carry with it a mandatory increase either in salary or performance Bonus a Pinto said. A a it a strictly a managers Call As to whether or not the commendable or excellent rated employee will receive any kind of monetary  despite employees fears the test showed that workers received ratings comparable to those Given under the old system Pinto said. During the test 80 percent of Heidelberg a workers were ranked excellent compared with 71 percent in the year before the test began. Stuttgart awarded excellent ratings to 85 percent of its workers compared to 88 percent in the control year. During the period of april 1,1988, to March 31,1990 83 percent of Heidelberg a Naf workforce received a raise Bonus or both. Stuttgart recorded 127 percent of its workforce receiving one or both of the rewards meaning that Many employees received More than one award or raise. Excluding annual Cost of living increases from Congress a there Are a number of Naf employees who have been in the test in the two test communities who have not received any kind of salary increase Over the two year test period a Pinto said. Pinto said personnel officials were pleasantly surprised by How few grievances were filed in the test communities. Heidelberg had six grievances reach Naf organization commanders a the highest level a for Resolution while Stuttgart had two. He attributed the Low number of grievances to the training managers and employees received. When expo is implemented each manager receives two Days of training and every employee receives a half Day. Test results also showed that expo substantially seeded recruitment. In Heidelberg it took managers an average of 9.3 Days to fill jobs that the civilian personnel offices took an average of 49.5 Days to fill. In expo managers handle recruitment from Start to finish. It also frees them to offer Job applicants salaries commensurate with their qualifications. Labor Laws prohibit including usage urn a Blue Collar workers in expo. The defense department however is petitioning Congress to change that Law. The stars and stripes and armed forces recreation centers have been invited to take part in expo training but the organizations do not have to convert. News updates Mia remains Arlington a. A the remains of two american soldiers killed in the last major assault of the Vietnam War have been Laid to rest 19 years after their helicopter was shot Down. Capt. Keith a. Brandt of Bellingham wash., and it. Alan b. Boff Man of Norfolk va., crashed March 18, 1971, while attempting to save 88 South vietnamese infantrymen stranded in a thrust into Laos. Vietnam veterans hailed the return of the remains to the United states in july As the result of the first joint .-laotian search for americans missing in  cultists Painesville Ohio a two members of a religious cult linked to the killing of a family avoided prison terms for their roles in helping to conceal the slayings. Dennis Patrick and his wife Tonya each was sentenced in Lake county common pleas court to 18 months in prison 90 Days in jail and one years probation. But the prison sentences were suspended and they got credit for the jail time because each had already served 93 Days. Judge James w. Jackson said Patrick his wife and their 10-year-old daughter Molly must continue receiving counselling. Of sergeant honoured for heroism in saving girl from burning House by Amy Geiszler Jones staff writer Raf Greenham common England a a a reluctant hero received one of the air forces highest awards for heroism monday for his part in saving a Mother and her two children from their smoke filled House. Staff sgt. John Lawson 27, received the airman a medal for having saved 5-year-, old Stephani from her family a two Story House in Raf Greenham commons government housing area on aug. 4, 1989. The housing area is about 13 Miles from the base. The Rescue began after Lawson heard frantic screams coming from his neighbors House. The eight year Veteran rushed out of his House to see Michaela Zapata ready to fling her 3-year-old son Stephin from a second Story window. While onlookers urged her not to throw the boy onto the Cement Patio Lawson and another neighbor staff sgt. Paul Thompson ran to the Zapata House. Lawson crawling on his hands and Knees entered the smoke filled House. A i  see anything but i called out a he said. When he reached the top of the stairs he found Stephani screaming and too terrified to move. Scooping her up in his arms Lawson went Back Down the stairs. In the meantime another neighbor sgt. Mike Davis had rescued the Mother and son. Thompson also retrieved the family a dog from the House. By the time the local fire department reached the housing area the fire which had been confined to the Kitchen stove had already been put out by an unidentified neighbor Lawson said. The House suffered smoke damage in the fire which began on the stove sgt. Richard Zapata said. Neither the rescuers nor the family suffered any injuries. A a couple of Good coughs and a Shower Ana i was All cleaned up again a Lawson said. Lawson whom a fellow co worker described As a a reluctant hero a has been modest about his part in the Rescue. A a it a one of those things that you done to know you can do until it happens a he said. Davis and Thompson also have been nominated for the airman a medal. Rampages by Neo nazis Caus it panic in East West German Dresden Germany up a Eastern German residents responded with outrage monday to a weekend March by Neo nazis in the town of Dresden while in Western Germany one Man was killed when right Wing skinheads attacked a group of basketball fans. Police said the 23-year-old Man was killed in the Western German City of Lud Wissburg sunday after Neo nazi skin Heads attacked the fans with a Molotov cocktail. In the ensuing panic the Young Man was pushed off a train platform in front of an oncoming Streetcar. In Eastern Germany the daily Dresdner Morgen Post said its phone fines were jammed monday by angry citizens responding to the a scandalous weekend March by More than 500 Neo nazis. The group led by notorious right Wing extremist Michael Kuehnen of Western Germany rallied in downtown Dresden saturday. The extremists raised their right arms in the Hitler Salute carried former German War flags and shouted a foreigners  at the rally Kuehnen announced that the group would stage a second March at what he called the a zone Border a meaning the German polish Border