Fed Worker Unions Welcome Proposed Pay Raise
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Saying that “Federal employees have been
taking
it on the chin while the one percent gets
richer and richer,” AFSCME Council 26
Executive Director Carl Goldman welcomed last
week’s move by Sens. Brian Schatz
of Hawaii and Ben Cardin of Maryland to provide
federal employees with a 3.3
percent pay raise in 2015. The Obama
administration has proposed a 1 percent
pay raise, but American Federation of
Government Employees National President
J. David Cox Sr. dismissed it as “a pitiful
increase in light of how much
federal employees have sacrificed these past
few years.” The Senate legislation
is a companion to a House bill introduced in
March by Reps. Gerry Connolly and
Jim Moran of Virginia. “Federal employees
have seen their standard of living
deteriorate in recent years due to a three-year
pay freeze, unpaid furloughs,
and higher retirement contributions for newer
workers,” Cox said. “This
legislation by Sens. Schatz and Cardin would
help federal employees recoup some
of that lost income and ensure the government
is able to recruit and retain the
high caliber workers that taxpayers expect.”
photo:
Cox at a Capitol Hill rally during the 2013
government shutdown; photo by Chris
Garlock