Underpaid Workers at Minot AFB Win Pay Rate Increase

Employees have been suffering as wages lag behind spike in private-sector rates

News provided by

American Federation of Government Employees

Dec 04, 2014, 02:21 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Federation of Government Employees today applauded the Office of Personnel Management for approving a union-backed plan to increase wages for employees at Minot Air Force Base to compensate for a spike in living costs.

The special rates request will result in pay increases ranging from 33 to 37 percent for about 100 employees at the North Dakota base who are paid through non-appropriated funds. AFGE continues to work on getting similar increases approved for blue-collar and white-collar employees who are paid from appropriated funds.

"While all government employees have been living on stagnant wages for the past few years thanks to pay freezes and furloughs due to sequestration, the workers at Minot Air Force Base have been hit especially hard," AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said.

"The shale oil boom across the Bakken region has led to extremely high living costs, making it difficult for employees to make ends meet on their pre-boom salaries. Private-sector employers have already responded to the market by raising their wages, but the federal government has lagged behind until now."

The pay increases should take effect in employees' next pay check.

Cox said AFGE continues to fight for meaningful pay raises for all federal and D.C. government workers.

"This is the first chink in the armor of austerity and we will not stop fighting until all government employees get the real pay increase they deserve," he said.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

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SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees