Congressman Barney Frank
Representing Massachusetts' 4th District

Lawmakers Protest Ruling Against Federal Hourly Wage Workers
August 7, 2008

Four U.S. Congressmen representing Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island today expressed their strong disagreement with a recent decision by a federal advisory panel to deny fair pay to federal government workers in the region who are compensated on an hourly basis, and the lawmakers vowed to continue fighting for a more equitable pay system for the workers.

Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), James McGovern (D-MA), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), and James Langevin (D-RI) said they were very disappointed that the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) voted recently against a proposal that would have brought “blue-collar” federal hourly wage workers in Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts, into the same higher wage area as workers in the Boston area. The Congressmen said they would continue pushing for adoption of legislation or new rules that would allow the workers to shift into the higher wage area.

“I am disappointed that the committee failed to take action to establish a more fair federal wage structure in our area,” Frank said. “Our entire region faces the same economic pressures, and people who live throughout the area have to deal with high costs for housing, gasoline, and other daily needs. It makes no sense to treat hourly federal workers differently from those who are paid annual salaries, and I will be discussing with my colleagues how best to address this inequity.”

“Blue-collar workers in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts deserve the same consideration as salaried, white-collar workers,” Kennedy said. “The fact that they don't receive the same consideration proves that this system is broken. The FRPAC's vote to perpetuate a broken system is disappointing, but it will not stop those of us in Congress who care about the blue-collar workers in our districts from fighting to rectify this unfair situation.”

“I am disappointed by this ruling,” McGovern said. “Federal workers in Southeastern Massachusetts deserve equal pay for equal work in line with their counterparts in the Boston region.”