Federal Managers Association

Press Release

• FMA STATEMENT ON PROPOSED PAY FREEZE OFFERED IN THE SENATE - November 11, 2020
• Alexandria, VA – On Tuesday, November 10, Senators released Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations plans, including a proposed pay freeze for federal employees. Federal Managers Association (FMA) National President Craig Carter made the following comments on the status of a pay raise for federal employees:
  
  
  "As if the Senate’s first real effort to move on full-year appropriations coming 41 days into the fiscal year wasn’t bad enough, it is a double whammy that the proposal includes an across the board pay freeze for the federal workforce. 
  
  
  “FMA strongly supports the 3.0 percent raise for the uniformed military, as included in the National Defense Authorization Act, and continues to argue federal employees deserve the traditional long-established pay parity with military service members. Short of that, the bare minimum Congress should do is the 1 percent pay raise as recommended in President Trump’s budget request, and endorsed by the House.
  
  
  "Federal managers dutifully spend every day repairing airplanes and ships that protect our national security, processing tax returns and Social Security payments, caring for our veterans, protecting our environment and food supply, and countless other services on behalf of all Americans. Importantly, the civilian workforce has not wavered in the face of the ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and deserves to be recognized and compensated fairly.
  
  
  “Every job we hold and perform daily is because of a congressional mandate. We work to fulfill these mandates to ensure American's way of life is protected for generations to come. In return, feds should be given the ability to maintain a living wage that keeps up with inflation and that provides for them and their families.
  
  
  “Given the many areas where cost-savings could be found, starting with no longer relying on continuing resolutions, or subjecting our country to government shutdowns with billions of dollars lost each time, it saddens me that pay cuts for federal employees seem to be the first place many in Congress look for so-called savings. It is well past time that members of Congress and the administration recognize and value the hard work of feds and treat them with the respect they deserve, starting with a wage that keeps up with inflation.”

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