FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 7, 2008Contact: Peter Kovar (Frank)
202-225-9400; Michael Mershon (McGovern) 202-225-6101; Andrew Caruolo
(Kennedy) 401-729-5600; Joy Fox (Langevin) 401-732-9400
LAWMAKERS PROTEST RULING AGAINST
FEDERAL HOURLY WAGE WORKERS
Four U.S. Congressmen representing Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode
Island today expressed their strong disagreement with a recent decision by a
federal advisory panel to deny fair pay to federal government workers in the
region who are compensated on an hourly basis, and the lawmakers vowed to
continue fighting for a more equitable pay system for the workers.
Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), James McGovern (D-MA), Patrick
Kennedy (D-RI), and James Langevin (D-RI) said they were very disappointed
that the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) voted recently
against a proposal that would have brought “blue-collar” federal hourly wage
workers in Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts, into the same
higher wage area as workers in the Boston area. The Congressmen said they
would continue pushing for adoption of legislation or new rules that would
allow the workers to shift into the higher wage area.
“I am disappointed that the committee failed to take action to establish
a more fair federal wage structure in our area,” Frank said. “Our entire
region faces the same economic pressures, and people who live throughout the
area have to deal with high costs for housing, gasoline, and other daily
needs. It makes no sense to treat hourly federal workers differently from
those who are paid annual salaries, and I will be discussing with my
colleagues how best to address this inequity.”
“Blue-collar workers in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
deserve the same consideration as salaried, white-collar workers,” Kennedy
said. “The fact that they don't receive the same consideration proves that
this system is broken. The FRPAC's vote to perpetuate a broken system is
disappointing, but it will not stop those of us in Congress who care about
the blue-collar workers in our districts from fighting to rectify this
unfair situation.”
“I am disappointed by this ruling,” McGovern said. “Federal workers in
Southeastern Massachusetts deserve equal pay for equal work in line with
their counterparts in the Boston region.”
“I am frustrated with this recent decision,” said Langevin. “There is no
reason to exclude Rhode Islanders and our neighbors right across the state
line who are hourly federal employees from receiving a wage competitive with
those living in the Boston-area. We are all experiencing the same economic
difficulties and should not be left behind. I look forward to working with
my colleagues, including Mr. Frank, to resolve this issue as quickly as
possible.”
Currently, salaried federal white-collar employees in Rhode Island and
Southeastern Massachusetts are included in the Boston locality pay area and
paid according to the same salary structure as federal employees in the
greater Boston area. Blue collar workers, many of whom are employed by the
Newport, Rhode Island naval base, remain in a separate, lower pay structure
area. On July 24, FPRAC voted 6 – 5, with Chairman Charles Brooks casting
the deciding vote, against a proposal that would have shifted the Rhode
Island and Southeastern Massachusetts hourly federal workers into the Boston
wage region.
Hourly workers from the area and unions that represent them have for
several years been seeking to merge the Rhode Island-Southeastern
Massachusetts hourly wage area with the Boston area, but FPRAC was unable to
take any action on a proposal along those lines for over two years because
the Bush Administration did not appoint an FPRAC chair. During that period,
the four Congressmen introduced legislation (H.R. 2375) to make the shift
mandatory, and also included a provision in an appropriations bill urging
the Office of Personal Management (OPM) to make the change.
Last year, after the Administration appointed Brooks as Chairman, FPRAC
convened a working group to study the broader issue of how to best determine
wage area boundaries, and under what circumstances areas should be merged.
The working group proposed several alternatives, but the full membership of
FPRAC rejected all but one of them. The alternative that was approved
permits mergers only in cases involving hourly wage areas with a small
number of workers, well below the number who work in the Rhode
Island-Southeastern Massachusetts area.