[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 20, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S3355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse):
  S. 920. A bill to provide wage parity for certain prevailing rate 
employees in Rhode Island; to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I address an issue of critical 
importance to Rhode Island's Federal Wage System employees.
  Federal Wage System (FWS) employees are the Federal Government's 
blue-collar employees. In Rhode Island, these workers include janitors, 
mechanics, machine tool operators, munitions and explosive operators, 
electricians, and engineers. The majority of FWS employees in the 
United States work in the Department of Defense or the Department of 
Veterans Affairs. Indeed, Naval Station Newport employs the most FWS 
workers in the Narragansett Bay area. These workers are essential to 
the government's daily operation, and the work that they perform is 
important to our national security.
  Regrettably, in the Narragansett Bay wage area, Federal blue-collar 
workers are faced with one of the lowest FWS pay scales, while residing 
in an area with one of the highest costs of living. The significant 
disparities between wages in the Narragansett Bay wage area and the 
proximate Boston and Hartford wage areas raise serious questions about 
the fairness and equity of these pay scales. In Rhode Island, an 
average wage grade worker earns $18.47 per hour, whereas the same 
worker in Boston earns $20.77 per hour and an employee in Hartford 
earns $19.99 per hour. Competitive compensation is the best way to 
ensure the retention of qualified and effective workers. Rhode Island 
should not suffer the loss of experienced Federal employees to the same 
jobs, at the same grade levels, just miles away because of better pay.
  The chair of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), 
which advises the Office of Personnel Management on decisions dealing 
with the FWS pay scales, has been left vacant, leaving the FPRAC unable 
to make needed decisions regarding these wage areas.
  Due to the lack of a chair and any action by FPRAC or OPM, which I 
have long urged to resolve this matter, I am reintroducing the Rhode 
Island Federal Worker Fairness Act, and I am pleased that Senator 
Whitehouse is joining me as a cosponsor. This bill will merge the 
Narragansett Bay wage area with the Boston, MA, wage area to provide 
regional pay equity to Rhode Island Federal blue-collar workers. 
Merging these two wage areas will keep Federal workers in Rhode Island 
from abandoning their government jobs for higher paying positions 
elsewhere in southern New England, and help the approximately 500 wage 
rate workers in Rhode Island better provide for their families. I urge 
that this long pending inequality be addressed.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 920

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Rhode Island Federal Worker 
     Fairness Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. WAGE PARITY FOR CERTAIN PREVAILING RATE EMPLOYEES IN 
                   RHODE ISLAND.

       The wage schedules and rates applicable to prevailing rate 
     employees (as defined in section 5342 of title 5, United 
     States Code) in the Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, wage area 
     shall be the same as the wage schedules and rates applicable 
     to prevailing rate employees in the Boston, Massachusetts, 
     wage area.

     SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       Section 2 shall take effect beginning with the first pay 
     period beginning on or after the date of enactment of this 
     Act.
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