2013 Pay Raise Fight Underway

Today the White House announced that its 2013 budget proposal would call for an end to the pay freeze for 2013 and propose a 0.5 percent increase in federal pay. The 2013 budget, however, is only one battleground where the federal pay fight will be waged.

A more immediate fight is taking place right now as Congress continues to consider extending the pay freeze for one to three more years as part of various legislative proposals. In less than 60 days, House and Senate conferees must decide whether to include an extension of the federal pay freeze in final payroll tax holiday legislation.

NTEU this week wroteto the 20 conferees urging them not to finance the payroll tax holiday extension on the backs of middle class federal workers. NTEU told the members of Congress that federal employees have done their fair share to help address our budget problems. The current pay freeze is expected to result in a $60 billion contribution by federal workers to deficit reduction over 10 years. Federal employees should not be asked to sacrifice even more in order to shield the wealthiest Americans from making any contributions.

NTEU has been urging the administration and Congress to end the pay freeze and support a fair increase for federal employees in 2013. Today’s announcement was a step in the right direction. "The good news is that the pay freeze is ending, but I am disappointed at the size of the proposed 2013 increase," said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

NTEU will continue to fight efforts to extend the pay freeze and will work toward increasing the proposed pay increase before it becomes effective in January 2013.

It is time for the pay freeze to end. Federal employees have already contributed $60 billion toward deficit reduction and they should not be asked to make further sacrifices.

To learn more, visit www.nteu.org