FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2013
February 15, 2013
AFGE Statement on House Vote to Continue Federal Pay Freeze
WASHINGTON – American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. today issued the following statement on the House vote to extend the pay freeze on federal employees for a third consecutive year:
Today, 261 House members voted to deny a quarter of a percent pay raise to more than 2 million federal employees, whose salaries have been frozen since January 2010. This vote sends an extremely insulting and hostile message to the VA nursing assistant who makes $27,000 a year, to the USDA meat inspector who earns $32,000 a year, to the federal penitentiary correctional officer who earns less than $39,000 a year.
The message from these House members is loud and clear: we don’t value the work that you do, and we think you should continue to be picked on because we oppose the services you provide to the American people.
These lawmakers persist in voting to freeze federal employee salaries year after year, yet they turn a blind eye to the rapid growth in taxpayer-funded salaries of contractor employees. The cap in contractor compensation has more than doubled in the past 10 years and jumped 10 percent in the past year alone, to a whopping $763,000. Capping these contractor salaries at a more reasonable $200,000 a year would save taxpayers at least $5 billion every year, or $50 billion over 10 years.
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