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
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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