Congress Introduces AFGE-Proposed 5.3% Pay Raise Bill
February 12, 2016
Categories:
Congress
Hundreds of AFGE members who gathered in the rain last week said it loud and clear: federal workers deserve a 5.3 percent pay raise.
And this time, Congress listened.
Just three days after they rallied right across from the Capitol Building, Congressman Gerry Connelly of Virginia introduced a bill that would give them just that: 5.3 percent pay increase next year.
“AFGE has led the call for a 5.3% pay raise and I’m incredibly grateful for the strong support our proposal has received. Federal employees have gone far too long without a decent wage increase, resulting in a 6.5% drop in their standard of living since the start of the decade,” said AFGE President J. David Cox Sr. “Federal employees are just like everyone else – they are struggling to keep up with house and car payments, student loan debt, and rising costs for prescriptions and groceries and other essentials.”
Congressman Connolly understood that federal employees’ contributions to this country is worth way more than the tiny 1.6 percent raise proposed by the White House. He is a true friend of all those who serve the public.
“There is a systematic assault on working men and women in this country,” Connolly told hundreds of AFGE members at the rally. “We have to fight back. This is about empowering the ability of working men and women to make a fair wage, to provide for their families, to have a future, to have opportunity. And that’s why unions are so important.”
But it will take more than just one member of Congress to make this bill a law. After six years of low to no pay raises, it’s time to right the wrong. Congress must pass this legislation.
“We are not asking for any special treatment, just a catch-up contribution to start making up for the $182 billion that federal employees personally sacrificed to help get our nation through the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression,” Cox said.
