Pay Issues Also on Table

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill set the January 2006 federal pay raise at an average 3.1 percent and once again would require that wage grade employees, who are paid under a separate pay system, would get the raise applying to GS employees in their areas. The White House objects to boosting the raise above the 2.3 percent it recommended and said that the blue collar pay provision “would disregard the results of local blue collar wage surveys and provide a pay increase identical to local general schedule employees. These provisions could result in paying blue-collar employees at rates higher than local labor markets would support and would create a host of technical and equity problems.”