FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2022
July 15, 2022
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-639-6405/202-374-6491
[email protected]
Largest Federal Employee Union Applauds House Passage of NDAA
Categories:
DoD
Legislation would improve pay and working conditions for TSA officers, provide 4.6% pay raise to military and DoD civilians, further other AFGE priorities
WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Government Employees applauds lawmakers for including many provisions addressing the pay, benefits, and working conditions of federal employees in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support Thursday.
“This bill contains many of our legislative priorities, including more competitive pay and job protections for the hard-working civil servants who keep our federal government running,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “We applaud the House for passing this legislation in a bipartisan fashion, and we look forward to working with the Senate and the conference committee to further improve this legislation.”
The bill includes AFGE-backed provisions that would:
- Put employees at the Transportation Security Administration on the same pay system as most federal employees and require TSA to apply the same Title 5 personnel rules to TSA employees.
- Eliminate the Department of Veterans Affairs Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission and save nearly one-third of VA medical centers from being closed or downsized.
- Protect the integrity of the competitive civil service by preventing any future administration from reviving the Trump-era Schedule F, which could be used to arbitrarily fire federal employees.
- Provide for a 4.6% pay raise for military and DoD civilian employees, mirroring the Biden administration’s proposed pay raise for all federal employees.
- Create a presumption that federal firefighters who contract cancer or other diseases were sickened as a result of their jobs, making them eligible for workers’ compensation.
- Provide financial support for Department of Defense civilian employees to pursue programs of education at institutions of higher learning that have been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Education.
- Ensure VA nurse pay stays competitive with the private sector by requiring hospitals to conduct locality pay surveys.
- Direct the Government Accountability Office to review the parity between the Federal Wage System (FWS) and the prevailing wage rate for wage grade workers who maintain, repair, or help support those who maintain or repair U.S. Navy ships or submarines at the four U.S. Navy public shipyards or at naval bases in competitive job markets.
- Give the District of Columbia mayor the same authority over the National Guard that governors of states and territories have.
- Protect the workforce at military depots.
- Improve the transparency of service contracts.
“We will continue to fight for our members who would be harmed by other sections of the bill,” Kelley said. “Provisions in the House bill would devastate military exchanges by arbitrarily restricting the sale of goods imported from China, without applying those restrictions to private-sector competitors. Other provisions would privatize military lodging in the Navy and Air Force, a measure that would waste $5 billion in taxpayer funds without improving lodging conditions, and fund unrequested weapons systems at the potential expense of the Defense civilian workforce.”
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