Gray Announces Raises For Most D.C. Employees; Fire Fighters, Teachers & Cops Still Negotiating

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)More than two-thirds of District government employees are in line to receive pay raises totaling 13 percent over four years, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (right) announced Wednesday. Gray’s administration has agreed to the raises for about 13,000 unionized employees working in about 30 city agencies, plus about 10,000 nonunionized workers. Police officers, firefighters and teachers are among those workers whose unions continue to negotiate contracts with the city.  The new contracts will “meet the demands of a 21st-century government and a 21st-century workforce” and will help normalize relations with employees after many gave up raises in recent years as the economic slowdown battered the city budget. “I call it righting an injustice that has been done over these last several years,” Gray said. - excerpted from Mike DeBonis’ Washington Post report; photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post