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Washington, D.C. – Congress should reassert its authority over salaries for the federal workforce by replacing the administration’s ill-advised pay freeze with a 3 percent increase in 2019, National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said Wednesday.

“If the federal government is to have the ability to compete with the private sector in recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce, it is essential that the federal government provide its workers a pay increase,” Reardon wrote in a new letter to members of Congress.

Federal employees all over the country are facing the same financial pressures as their private sector counterparts, including rising costs for housing, utilities, health care, food and tuition. While wages in the private sector will increase on average by 3 percent this year, now is not the time to push our nation’s public servants even further behind, Reardon said.

“Federal employees — who live and work in every state and congressional district across the country — serve as scientists, accountants, park rangers, law enforcement officers, and much more — providing critical services for our nation and the American people,” he wrote.

The Federal Salary Council recently reported that federal salaries on average are about 32 percent lower than private sector employees in the same line of work, and adding another pay freeze would only exacerbate that gap and drive more professional civil servants toward the exits. In the last eight years, federal employees have endured three pay freezes and five years of below-market raises.

A 3 percent adjustment in 2019 would help reverse that slide and show the men and women of the civil service that their work providing security, protecting public health and safeguarding the economy is valued.

Prior to 2011, Congress routinely set the federal pay increase in the annual appropriations bills. But recently Congress has remained silent and allowed the administration to dictate the size of the raise or whether to give one at all. In that light, NTEU is urging Congress to reinsert itself into the process and override the administration’s pay freeze proposal. NTEU strongly supports legislation from Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) to give federal workers a 3 percent pay adjustment next year. The legislation, the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, is H.R. 4775 and S. 2295.

“Federal employees and their families are relying on you to act to ensure their financial security,” Reardon wrote.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.