A new rule proposed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would provide about 12% in salary increases to thousands of federal manual, craft, and trade workers. The proposed change further seeks to address past pay inequalities and provide fairness to all government workers. The impact of the proposed rule would primarily be on the income levels of approximately 15,000 blue-collar federal workers, who will experience pay increases once the rule is put into effect. Correspondingly, an additional 2,000 workers would also be permitted under pay retention standards, which entail the retention of their current salaries and thus not subject to reductions.
New federal pay adjustment promises equity for manual workers: Who will benefit from the pay increase?
The primary adjustments in the pay will be in the states of Alabama, California, Maine, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, considering the installations of prime military installations like Tobyhanna Army Depot, Letterkenny Army Depot, and Anniston Army Depot. Discrepancies between the FWS and the GS created huge inequalities. Some workers in the same pay grades but under different systems have experienced gaps that this proposal seeks to close.
OPM’s proposal, the importance of aligning FWS and GS pay systems, and statements from the Biden administration
The intent of the proposal is to narrow any disparity in pay classification maps between the Federal Wage System (FWS) and General Schedule (GS). FWS currently has 248 pay areas, while GS has only 58, creating discrepancies in the regions. Under this alignment, OPM assures that FWS manual employees will receive pay more competitive with that of their administrative counterparts in the same geographic regions.
President Joe Biden termed this rule a partial attempt to mitigate historic wage gaps. “For too long, FWS employees have earned less than others in similar roles. This adjustment is a much-desired first step toward pay equity,” he said.
AFGE union’s support for the new measures
An enormous amount of support from AFGE for the proposed regulations. Everett Kelley, national president of the union, reiterated, “This change will guarantee that all employees will be treated fairly, regardless of the system that governs their pay.”
While most support is available, some members of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) expressed concern about how agencies could actually implement all the changes that may be requiring additional funding. The proposal, first approved by the Board in December 2023, will be filed in the Federal Register with a comment period of sixty (60) days. Following that, the regulation will be reviewed further before the full-fledged implementation of the regulation.
