PASS, Coalition Call for Federal Employee Pay Raise

Today, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO, joined a coalition of federal employee groups in asking congressional appropriators to include a 3.2 percent pay raise for federal workers for fiscal year 2022.

The Federal-Postal Coalition, an alliance of more than 30 organizations that collectively represent more than five million federal and postal workers, retirees and their dependents, sent letters to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Subcommittees on Financial Services and General Government. “We respectfully request that you appropriate a 3.2 percent average pay increase for federal workers via a 2.2 percent across-the-board increase, and a 1.0 percent average increase to locality pay rates in 2022, as would be provided by the FAIR Act, H.R. 392,” wrote the coalition. The federal employee pay raise is included in both chambers’ FY2022 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill. (Read the letters:  House    Senate)

The letters note the vital role of government employees in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who “stood on the frontlines of the pandemic to keep government services running when much of the country stood at a standstill.”

The coalition also pointed out to appropriators the importance of competitive pay for the government to recruit top talent and retain the dedicated public servants already in the workforce. It outlined the strain placed on certain sectors of the federal government due to below-market wages. Many occupations are understaffed because the government is unable to compete with private-sector pay and they are often specialty jobs that require years of advanced education and training. 

PASS National President Mike Perrone also has those concerns. “Many of the aviation safety professionals we represent at the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense undergo years of training to become proficient and continue their training throughout their careers to be the best at their jobs,” he said. “They deserve to be paid competitively so that they remain with the government to ensure the safety of the flying public.”

In calling on Congress to ensure the government can recruit and retain top talent, the coalition asked lawmakers to “reestablish the precedent of appropriating market rate increases in federal pay rates and do so for 2022. Such a move is the first step in revitalizing the federal workforce and would place the federal government on a better path.”

“Our nation needs its best working for the American people.”

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