Congress Sending Mixed Messages on Pay Parity
Friday, July 10, 2009(National Federation of Federal Employees)
This week, key
committees in both houses of Congress approved
figures for this year’s federal pay adjustment,
however they arrived at very different results.
Thursday, the Senate
Appropriations Committee endorsed a 2.9 percent
civilian federal employee pay adjustment for
fiscal year 2010. This compares to a 2 percent
pay adjustment passed earlier in the week by
the same committee in the House of
Representatives. Should these figures be passed
in each chamber, respectively, the differences
will have to be hashed out before a
House-Senate conference committee before a
final spending bill can be passed.
“We will continue to
fight for a fair and equal pay adjustment for
all federal workers,” said NFFE Legislative
Director Randy Erwin. “We want to make
certain the that the long-standing tradition of
pay parity is maintained.”
“A slow economy does not
change the fact that there is still a
significant pay gap between federal employees
and those doing the similar work in the private
sector,” continued Erwin. “We need to do
all we can to close this pay gap in order for
the federal government to recruit and retain
the best and brightest over the
long-term.”