National Maritime Union of America v. United States

In this civilian pay case we are called upon to decide whether the executive branch, pursuant to its anti-inflation program, may limit pay increases of certain prevailing rate employees to the rates of increase imposed on other federal employees by statute. Specifically, we must decide whether the phrase "as nearly as is consistent with the public interest” in the statutory provision for prevailing rate *61mariners vests the mariners’ employer agencies with the discretion to override the general purpose of the prevailing rate statute: providing parity of pay between the public and private…