12/2/09: On November 30, President Obama exercised his right to submit an alternative plan to Congress on locality pay as presidents of both parties have done in recent years. As expected, he submitted his alternative plan for locality pay increases consistent with his earlier August report. Under the alternative reports, federal civilian employees would receive an across-the-board two percent pay raise with no amount distributed on the basis of locality. Obama is the first president to freeze locality pay in this fashion.

The White House 2010 locality pay plan is disappointing but not surprising. President Obama made clear in his pay report of August that this would be his direction. NTEU would prefer to see a higher raise with a portion of the pay increase allocated to locality pay, given the importance of that concept in fairly addressing the public-private pay gap.

There has been a locality allocation every year since 1994. NTEU is pressing Congress to overturn the president’s plan as it has many times in the past. The Union will also persist in efforts to generate support for parity in military and civilian pay increases.