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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Cartwright Gets 1% COLA For 1,809 Blue Collar Tobyhanna Workers

Congressman Matt Cartwright's has been pushing a wage hike for what he calls the nation's blue collar federal workers. He appears to have succeeded, and the hike will be included in what is an actual appropriations bill.

Here's what Cartwright says:

"I am thrilled that this appropriations bill has adopted the language from the Wage Grade Employee Parity Act, which I introduced in November. The legislation and its inclusion provides 1,809 Wage Grade (WG) employees at Tobyhanna Army Depot and nearly a quarter million blue-collar federal workers across the country a 1% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

"This year, the President was able to provide a 1% COLA for General Schedule (GS), or salaried, federal employees; however, he did not have the statutory authority to provide the same COLA to all federal workers. At the beginning of this year WG employees’ wages stayed the same thus creating a greater disparity between the wages of WG employees and GS employees.

"I'd like to thank Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas with whom I have worked to provide hourly federal workers the same pay adjustment as their salaried co-workers. I'd also like to thank House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, House Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey, and Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby for including my legislation and recognizing the important contributions of our blue-collar federal workers."
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2014 at 12:52 PM

    Unfortunately, these folks work for a failing organization which is mired in debt and waste. Similarly situated private sector workers would face (to borrow one of your favorite phrases) DRACONIAN CUTS, if not outright layoff and reorganization.

    And, yet, Cartwright can nudge his way to the trough, with the aid of some of the stronger piggies in the pen, and secure a share of the anticipated yuan and buy some votes.

    I know, they deserve it. They just do...

    -Clem



    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2014 at 12:53 PM

    These are raises in the tens of cents. Matt, why can't I keep my health insurance? What do you say to the 40,000,000 who will lose theirs by the end of the year? They'll need more than 1%.

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  3. Peter J.CochranJanuary 15, 2014 at 4:52 PM

    I will tell you that as WE the people with ID cards see to gain access to this post in Pennsylvania. We are met with shotguns and other stopgap devises that come out of the pavement. These employees are doing DEFENSE DEPT. work that SAVES US from 'would be'threats globally! They have high security clearances and are vetted employees with technical skills. They even saved millions on costs to refurbish high tech gear instead of replacement cost. They deserve more that one percent, But Mr Cartwright is most likely proceeding the best he can.He is also privileged to know ,what they do there.This is not just a storage area.

    ReplyDelete

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