FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2021
December 17, 2021
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-639-6405/202-374-6491
[email protected]
USP Thomson Employees to Receive Locality Pay Boost
Categories:
Pay, BOP
President’s Pay Agent approves AFGE request for moving facility to higher-paying locality
WASHINGTON – Correctional officers and staff at US Penitentiary Thomson in northern Illinois will be receiving a boost in their locality pay, under a recommendation from the President’s Pay Agent.
USP Thomson is located in Carroll County, Ill., which has seen large enough increases in federal employment during the past year to qualify for moving from the Rest of U.S. pay locality to the pay locality currently covering six counties surrounding Davenport, Iowa, and Moline, Ill., according to the Pay Agent report issued Dec. 15. The Pay Agent comprises the heads of the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel Management, and Department of Labor.
American Federation of Government Employees Local 4070 has been lobbying for the locality pay change for several years as part of a larger effort to address critical staffing shortages at the high-security federal prison. In September, the Office of Personnel Management approved a request from the Bureau of Prisons, made on behalf of AFGE, to provide all prison employees with 25% retention pay.
The local has worked with management to hold job fairs each month this year to boost staffing at the prison, which in turn helped the prison qualify for the higher locality pay.
“We are beyond pleased that our hard-working employees will be moved into the higher paying locality. This change, in addition to the 25% retention pay we already secured, will go a long way toward helping us retain our experienced staff and recruit the additional staff we desperately need,” AFGE Local 4070 President Jon Zumkehr said.
The prison has hired 115 officers in the past year and is currently at an 84% staffing level.
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