Gifford Pinchot National Forest Supervisory Forestry Technician (fire) Ben McLane sits at a lookout as his team works fires on the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon, July 22, 2023. Image: USDA Forest Service photo by Preston Keres
The NFFE union has said it will not recommend that the wildland firefighters it represents opt into a new occupational series that has been under development for several years as part of efforts to improve pay and working conditions for them.
In engaging with the Forest Service over the new series, the union said in a letter to the agency, its “primary goal was to ensure the position descriptions are accurate, reflect the modern emergency duties of the positions, and conform to classification standards. Management will implement the series using position descriptions we believe remain flawed. As a result, employees who volunteer to opt-in to the new series will still be performing duties without equal pay for substantially equal work in violation of law, rule and regulation.”
NFFE added that it “saw the new job series as an opportunity to end wage theft that has continued for decades. The wildland firefighter positions have been misclassified because the hard work wildland firefighters perform day-in and day-out has not been included and graded.”
The union listed a series of requests it made that were not adopted, for example regarding pay for higher-level duties such as EMT duties and for time spent in training for them. “Across the government, positions including those duties are graded at a GS-7. The Forest Service expects its employees in GS-3/4/5 and 6 positions to perform these duties without compensation, as they have for years,” it says.
The union said it will “leave it to the members to determine whether the new series works for them” but, for those who do opt in, also “will educate our members on their right to request desk audits” to determine whether the actual duties match the position description.
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