WASHINGTON — A proposal to modernize how federal workers are paid based on the cost-of-living standards in their states was shot down after the largest federal employee union came out in opposition, according to Utah Sen. John Curtis.
The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this week, greenlighting its version of the annual legislation that authorizes programs for the Defense Department and sets funding levels within the agency. During the vote, Curtis tried to include an amendment that would create a pilot program in Utah modernizing locality pay for federal employees that could later be applied on the national scale.
“Leading up to today, we thought we had an answer to one of the biggest issues in Utah. It’s called locality pay,” Curtis said in a video first obtained by the Deseret News to explain the vote. “If you’re from Hill Air Force Base, you’ll know exactly what that is, otherwise you may not.”
Locality pay is an adjustment made to federal workers’ base salary to match the cost-of-living and labor market conditions to the states and regions the employees work in. By adjusting those percentages, it can make federal jobs more competitive with private sector employers — helping with recruitment and retention that many states, including Utah, currently face, according to Curtis.
“I thought I had an amendment that would pass that had broad bipartisan support, and it came up for a vote today and at the last minute, believe it or not, the unions came out against it,” Curtis said. “And, that pulled a lot of my Democratic colleagues off of the bill.”
Despite having support leading up to the vote, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union in the country, sent a message to senators opposing the amendment — which Curtis said prompted many of his Democratic colleagues to taper off.
The group argued the amendment would “open up the federal pay system” to systemic audits and reviews by the Trump administration, which it says would be “devastating for federal workers.” Rather than ensuring higher pay, the AFGE claimed the Trump administration would use it to justify pay cuts or even freeze some spending altogether.
“This amendment would empower the directors of OPM and OMB, as well as the Secretary of Labor, who are now the chief antagonists of federal employees, to conduct a review of the methods used to determine federal salaries,” the group wrote to offices, according to a copy obtained by the Deseret News.
The Deseret News contacted AFGE for further comment.
But Curtis’ team pushed back against those assessments, arguing the modernization of the system is crucial to gather a full data assessment when determining locality pay rates.
“Ironically, I didn’t get notice from (Democrats who opposed the bill) because I actually think this bill would have been something that they would have loved,” Curtis said. “Because it helps the working man and woman and so many people in Utah. So, I haven’t given up. I’ll come back at it and we’ll find another way to get this across the finish line.”