Federal workers are still underpaid compared with their counterparts in the private sector doing the same jobs. Last year, they made 22.47% less.
Congress in 1990 passed the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) to close the pay gap between federal workers and their non-federal counterparts using the principle of local labor market comparability, not cost of living.
That means government workers should be paid about the same as those doing similar work locally in the private sector. But successive administrations and Congresses have failed to adhere to the principle, causing federal workers’ pay to lag behind what their counterparts are paid in the private sector and state and local government.
In a letter to Congress on Aug. 31, the Biden administration formalized its plan to give federal workers a 4.6% raise next year with 4.1% being the across-the-board pay raise and 0.5% being the average locality pay increase.
AFGE will continue to fight for significant increases to federal pay that have lagged far behind the private sector for many years.
The Office of Personnel Management last week took a huge step toward aligning the locality pay maps for employees on the Federal Wage System and General Schedule.
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With the election approaching Marcial Gomez talks about what’s on the line for TSA employees and his concerns about Project 2025.
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Members of AFGE’s DEFCON Steering Group met along with AFGE staff and elected leaders to discuss ways to better serve employees throughout the DoD in the year ahead.
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