More than 2,100 hourly federal workers in Pennsylvania will get a pay increase later this year due to a new rule approved by the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was among several lawmakers who championed the effort.
On Tuesday, OPM finalized a rule that will raise the wages for hourly federal employees who have been paid differently than their salaried coworkers. Employees at federal facilities like Letterkenny Army Depot, Tobyhanna Army Depot and United States Penitentiary Canaan will receive wages based on the same local scales used to calculate the pay of their salaried co-workers beginning on Oct. 1, Fetterman’s office said.
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For example, hourly workers might be paid at different regional rates as their salaried colleagues even though they work in the same building.
“For three decades, hourly federal workers across Pennsylvania have been shortchanged by a system that pays them differently than their salaried coworkers. This new rule will eliminate that pay gap for thousands of these workers,” Fetterman said.
The locality pay system was implemented in the 1990s to account for the variations of wages and cost of living across the country, but congressional appropriations for hourly wages have not kept pace with the scales used to determine annual salaries. Since around 2006, advocates have discussed the possibility of making the hourly workers and salaried employees pay scales more similar.
This decades-long dilemma caused high turnover rates for hourly employees and recruiting and retention problems at those facilities, Fetterman’s office said.
“This is about so much more than just a paycheck –– this is about treating workers with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Fetterman said. “I’m proud to stand with the union members across our commonwealth who have fought for years to make this happen. I made a commitment to join them in this fight and I’m proud that we finally got it done.”
Fetterman, along with former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), was among a group of lawmakers who advocated for this change over the past few years with the support of labor advocates and unions, including AFGE Local 1647, AFGE CPL-33 Local 3003, and NFFE Local 1442.
Fetterman sent a letter to the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FRPAC) in September 2023 advocating for it to address the pay disparity. FRPAC voted 9-1 in December 2021 to recommend the change, but it was not immediately implemented by the federal government.
In 2024, Fetterman sent a follow-up letter calling for the implementation of the FRPAC’s recommendation, which was later approved by OPM Director Kiran Ahuja and published by the Biden-Harris administration.
AFGE represents more than 800,000 federal workers across more than 900 local unions. Members of this union include “nurses, correctional officers, doctors, Social Security professionals, TSA agents, law enforcement officers, park rangers, and so much more.” The agencies with the highest memberships are the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. The union is describing the rule change as a win for their members.
“This adjustment is a necessary step to ensure greater equity and fairness in wage determinations for federal employees,” said Ned George, AFGE Local 1647 president at the Tobyhanna Army Depot. “By refining the criteria, the policy will better reflect regional economic conditions, align wages more accurately with local labor markets, and address disparities that have persisted under the current system.”
George added that the change will improve morale and increase the ability of federal agencies to attract and retain skilled workers.
A previous letter published by OPM in October 2024 noted that the 14,500 hourly federal workers nationwide affected by this rule would see an average increase of up to 12%. The letter added that mostly employees located at “major military installations would be impacted by this new rule, specifically citing the following occupations: those working in trade, craft and laborer jobs such as civilian maintenance mechanics, carpenters, air conditioning equipment mechanics, electricians, janitors, forklift operators, and more.”
The rule will result in an estimated $23.1 million in additional wages to Pennsylvanians in the first year alone, Fetterman’s office said.
Pennsylvania was listed along with Maine, California, Alabama and Maryland as the states with the most blue-collar federal workers that would see pay raises. OPM also listed seven counties nationwide with the most workers receiving a pay increase, which included Franklin and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania.
Pay hikes for federal hourly employees in Monroe County, for example, will vary from around $0.49 per hour at lower grades to $7.85 per hour at the highest, based on current wage levels.
Fetterman has a role in the implementation of this new rule by OPM since he is now the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Border Management, Federal Workforce, and Regulatory Affairs.
In addition to ensuring the proper implementation of the rule, Fetterman said he’s looking to expand it to include workers in more facilities, such as Gettysburg National Military Park and Defense Logistics Agency New Cumberland.
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