Source: AFGE Insider
AFGE is urging President Joe Biden to restore pay parity between civilian and military employees by increasing the 2025 pay raise for federal workers from 2% to 4.5%.
Biden has proposed a 2% pay raise for federal workers and 4.5% for military personnel. In a letter spearheaded by AFGE from the Federal Salary Council to Biden, the council urged the president to issue an executive order to give federal workers a 4.5% pay raise with 4% allocated as an across-the-board cost of living adjustment and 0.5% as locality pay supplements that vary by region.
“There is a long tradition of parity in pay adjustments for civilian and military employees of the federal government,” the council wrote in the Nov. 8 letter. “This tradition is rarely broken, and although your Fiscal 2025 Budget proposed just 2% for civilians and 4.5% for the military, we believe that using the occasion of the end-of-year executive order to revert back to this tradition is warranted. President Obama did so in 2016, and we ask that you do the same.”
AFGE President Everett Kelley and Public Policy Director Jacqueline Simon serve as the union’s two presidential appointees on the council, an advisory body that provides recommendations to the administration on the federal employee locality pay program.
AFGE is also working with Congress to push for higher pay.
In a Dec. 11 letter to Biden, a group of 27 Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate urged the president to restore the bipartisan support for pay parity across the federal workforce.
“Although we understand this decision was made under the constraints put in place by the Fiscal Responsibility Act caps, we believe it is imperative you revise your budget to align military and civilian employee pay raises,” they wrote. “Specifically, we request you issue a revised alternative pay plan seeking a 4.5% pay increase for the entire federal workforce, including military and civilian employees alike.”
The lawmakers noted that both military and civilian employees work hard to keep us safe and provide critical services to the American people.
“Of the federal workforce, more than 2.2 million civilian employees work to ensure resources and services are provided to countless communities across America,” they added. “By aligning military and civilian pay raises for 2025, you will recognize the efforts of the entire federal workforce.”
Biden has until the end of December to finalize the pay raises.
