About 1,500 wage grade employees at Anniston Army Depot received historic pay increases this month after being realigned to a higher paying wage area and following the approval of long-delayed 2024 pay raises.
Employees were moved from the Anniston wage area to the one centered in Birmingham, Ala. Under the updated wage schedule, many employees saw significant hourly pay increases. For example, a WG‑9 Step 5 employee experienced an increase of about $3.20 per hour, moving from roughly $30 per hour to more than $33 per hour. That increase equals about $6,600 in additional annual earnings per employee, depending on grade and step level.
The change was effective at the start of the current fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2025. Many workers received thousands of dollars in back pay as a result of the retroactive adjustment, which they received this month.
It’s one of the most significant compensation improvements for the depot workforce in decades, AFGE Local 1945 President Charles “Chazz” Barclay said.
“This is a historic moment for the hardworking federal employees at Anniston Army Depot,” Barclay said. “Our employees perform critical work supporting the readiness of our nation’s military. This pay improvement recognizes their skill, dedication, and the value they bring to national defense.”
The wage increase is expected to generate about $10 million in additional annual income being earned by employees and invested in the community, which in turn will benefit families and local businesses in Anniston and throughout Northeast Alabama.
The pay change for blue-collar workers at Anniston is one example of a larger policy change that has aligned all locality pay boundaries for federal employees under the Wage Grade and General Schedule pay systems.
The change, which took effect in October, is the result of more than two decades of advocacy by AFGE national and local leaders to ensure blue-collar workers receive fair and competitive pay aligned with regional labor markets.
The impetus for the shift can be traced to Monroe County, Pa., which in 2005 was added to the New York City pay locality covering GS workers. That resulted in huge pay differences – up to 35% – between GS and WG workers at the county’s largest employer, Tobyhanna Army Depot, since blue-collar workers continued to be paid under the Scranton, Pa., wage scale.
Leadership at our Tobyhanna local, AFGE Local 1647, immediately highlighted the disparity in GS and WG employees being treated as if they work in different localities even though they work for the same employer in the same location, often side by side.
AFGE first raised the issue at a 2005 meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, which oversees issues related to Wage Grade, and continued to raise it at every meeting for the next two decades – while also lobbying members of Congress and DoD leadership.
AFGE successfully fought to get language included in the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act – and retained in every subsequent year – that requires Wage Grade employees to receive at least the same annual raise as their GS colleagues. This was a huge victory that set the stage for aligning the Wage Grade and General Schedule locality pay boundaries.
“This achievement demonstrates the importance of strong labor representation and AFGE’s continued advocacy for federal employees – even as we fend off efforts by this current administration to slash the federal workforce and gut our workplace rights and protections,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “AFGE will continue working to ensure the men and women who support our military receive the respect and compensation they deserve.”
Workers across multiple skilled trades and occupations will benefit from the increase, including mechanics, machinists, welders, painters, sandblasters, electronics technicians, production workers, maintenance personnel, and general labor employees who perform critical work maintaining and rebuilding military equipment supporting the readiness of the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense.
In addition to the change in pay region, employees also benefited from the approval in November of long-delayed 2024 pay raises affecting more than 118,000 DoD employees across the country who are paid through the Federal Wage System. The raises were delayed due to the change in administrations.
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