FMA APPLAUDS ENACTMENT OF 3.1% PAY RAISE FOR 2006 - November 30,2005

President Bush signs appropriations bill into law that includes a 3.1% pay increase for all federal civilian employees

Alexandria, VA (November 30,2005) – The Federal Managers Association extends its appreciation to President Bush for signing into law the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, and the District of Columbia Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 (H.R. 3058), which includes a 3.1 percent average annual pay raise for all federal civilian employees.

After a difficult year of strained budgets, natural disasters, and proposals to strip federal employees of their pay and benefits, President Bush backed down from his stalwart opposition and signed into law a 3.1% average pay raise for all federal civilian employees in 2006 to keep their increase at parity with their military counterparts. The measure became Public Law 109-115 on November 30.

“Once again, we faced significant opposition from the President and key lawmakers to providing the dedicated diligent workers in the civil service with adequate compensation – and prevailed,” FMA National President Michael B. Styles commented. “It is incomprehensible to me that in the face of one of the worst natural disasters this nation has ever been dealt with – and the added responsibility being placed on federal workers in the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA – that there would be any hesitation about moving forward with the full 3.1 percent pay raise. I am glad the President listened to the voice of federal workers and so many in Congress to approve this deserved recognition.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there currently exists a 32 percent pay deficit for public-sector employees versus their private-sector counterparts. This marks the 22nd year in a row that federal employees have received a pay raise at parity with military personnel. The Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act sought to bridge this gap in 1990, and the annual pay raise for federal employees is the key mechanism to do so. Under the President’s budget, however, military personnel would have received a 3.1 percent pay raise, while federal civilian employees were budgeted for a 2.3 percent pay increase.

The President now must issue an Executive Order directing agencies on how to allocate those dollars as well as any locality pay adjustment.