[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 73 (Friday, May 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E955-E956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 INTRODUCTION OF GUAM WAGE PARITY BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 20, 2004

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
correct an anomaly in the treatment of the Federal blue-collar 
workforce in Guam by providing for parity in their wage schedules and 
rates. These are the wage schedules issued under the Federal Wage 
System, the uniform pay-setting system Congress established by law in 
1972 for Federal ``prevailing rate employees'' who are paid based upon 
an hourly rate (P.L. 92-392).
  Administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Federal 
Wage System is designed to ensure that pay rates for Federal trade, 
craft, and laboring employees are in line with prevailing levels of pay 
for comparable levels of work in the private sector within a local wage 
area. The system is also meant to eliminate inequities that would 
otherwise occur within the Federal Government and between the various 
agencies employing citizens in a local wage area.
  OPM has designated the Department of Defense (DoD) as the lead agency 
for establishing the pay rates and issuing all wage schedules. OPM has 
currently defined 131 appropriated fund and 125 non-appropriated fund

[[Page E956]]

local wage areas within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Schedules and rates are developed for 
each wage area based upon a survey conducted by DoD. OPM regulation 
however provides that a separate schedule shall be issued for Guam with 
rates identical to those used for prevailing rate employees in foreign 
areas. Regulation also provides that the rates for foreign areas shall 
be an average of all wage area rates set by OPM for the United States. 
Under these circumstances, the prevailing rate employees in Guam are 
treated no differently in terms of their pay rates than if they were 
working in a foreign area (outside the United States). This is a matter 
of concern to me which I am seeking to address with the introduction of 
this legislation.
  Guam's unique economic conditions, given its geographical isolation 
and the fact that it is a high cost of living area, have placed the 
hard working prevailing rate employees in Guam at an unfair 
disadvantage when compared to those that are employed in an OPM-defined 
local wage area. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, unlike Guam, are each 
currently defined to be their own separate wage areas and benefit from 
wage schedules that take into account their economic situation and cost 
of living environment. Guam should be treated no differently and have a 
wage schedule that reflects the cost of living and the level of pay for 
government-wage-grade-equivalent jobs in the private sector.
  Therefore I have introduced this bill to provide equitable treatment 
for Guam, not by directing OPM to establish a separate wage area for 
Guam but by simply applying the same rates used for the State of 
Hawaii, which sustains a similar island economy with most comparable 
trades and blue-collar workforces.
  It is generally understood that the reason Guam has been issued a 
separate schedule each year by regulation and has not been defined as a 
separate wage area, is that the number of comparable positions in 
Guam's private industry may be insufficient under the current standards 
to warrant its own wage survey and designation as a separate wage area. 
In passing the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, 
Congress required DoD, when establishing wage schedules and rates for 
prevailing rate employees, to consider rates paid for comparable 
positions in private industry in the nearest wage area that is most 
similar to the wage area for which wage rates are being established 
when there are insufficient positions in the local industry upon which 
to establish wage schedules and rates (Sec. 1113 of P.L. 107-107). The 
legislation I am introducing today is consistent with this intent.
  This bill would greatly enhance the economic viability of the 
prevailing rate employees in Guam, is in the public interest, and is, 
in my opinion, in conformance with the goal of the Federal Wage System. 
This is a sensible policy proposal that would ensure regional equity in 
wage rates. I look forward to working with OPM, DoD, the House 
Committee on Government Reform, and the House Committee on Armed 
Services, in addressing the concern over the current inequity and 
treatment of Guam under the Federal Wage System that this bill seeks to 
correct.

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