Gerry Connolly

Bill Providing 5.3% Raise Introduced

03/02/2016

NTEU is supporting legislation that would give federal employees a 5.3 percent pay raise in January. The measure was introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.) with 32 original cosponsors. Titled the FAIR Act (Federal Adjustment of Income Rates), the bill calls for a 3.9 percent across the board raise, plus a 1.4 percent adjustment for locality pay. 

The administration proposed a 1.6 percent pay raise in its budget proposal but NTEU believes that adjustment is too low. Federal employees are trailing their private-sector counterparts after three years of no raises, and three years of miniscule raises. Meanwhile, private-sector wages have gone up 10.6 percent on average over the past six years.

NTEU argues that federal employees need to be provided with pay raises that ensure federal agencies can employ professional, skilled workers who are charged with administering our nation’s laws and complex programs—particularly during a healthy national job market.