12/9/09: NTEU’s work with members of Congress successfully resulted in continuation of the long tradition of allocating a portion of the upcoming federal civilian pay raise to locality pay.

Under a planned fiscal 2010 omnibus funding bill to be advanced by the House Appropriations Committee, the overall average raise would be 2 percent, with 1.5 percent going to an across-the-board raise and the remaining .5 percent allocated to locality pay. Last night’s action by the Appropriations Committee overturns President Obama’s recently-issued alternative pay plan that did not provide for any locality pay for federal employees. This is particularly important to SEC employees, because they all work in cities that receive significant locality pay as part of their raise each year.

“Under the administration’s alternative pay plan,” said NTEU National President Colleen Kelley, “there would not have been any locality-based adjustments for the first time since that system began operating in 1994.”

Locality pay is intended to address the larger gaps between federal pay and private sector wages in high-cost areas of the country. Had the president’s alternative pay plan stayed in effect, the precedent of 15 years of locality increases would have been broken. The concept of locality increases to address the public-private wage gap provides market sensitivity to the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA).

President Kelley thanked in particular House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for his work leading to a portion of the 2010 raise being allocated to locality pay.

“Rep. Hoyer is a strong supporter of federal employees, and he is well aware of the gap that exists between public and private sector pay and the impact that has on the ability of federal agencies to hire and keep the quality people they need,” she said. The Federal Salary Council has put the current gap at about 26 percent, on average.

While pleased with congressional efforts to retain locality pay, President Kelley again expressed her disappointment that the administration did not continue parity in pay raises for federal civilian employees and members of the military in 2010.

“Military-civilian parity in pay raises has been a tenet of federal pay policy for most of the past 20 years,” Kelley said, “and reflects the continuing contributions of both groups of federal employees to the well-being and security of our nation.” She said NTEU will continue to push for parity in pay raises next year and welcomes administration statements that they will follow pay parity next year.