The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently sent out a tweet in support of a minimum wage increase for federal fire personnel.
On Jan. 21, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced plans to implement a $15 minimum wage for U.S. Federal Civilian Employees by Jan. 30, according to a press release. The change will affect approximately 67,000 federal employees including federal fire personnel.
"Excited to see this @USOPM direction so no fire personnel will make < $15 per hr," the Bureau of Land Management Fire wrote in a Jan. 21 tweet. "Federal wildland fire agencies have been working towards this for many years, along with many other efforts to support wildland fire personnel who are the backbone of wildfire mgmt."
The move to increase the minimum wage for federal workers comes after President Joe Biden issued a 2021 executive order focused on that issue, Reuters reported.
"Raising pay rates across the federal government to a minimum of $15 per hour reflects our appreciation for the federal workforce and our values as a nation," Kiran Ahuja, director of the OPM said in a statement.
Approximately 130 federal wildland firefighters across the country will benefit from this minimum wage increase.
"Whether they are on the front lines of our food industry, in the fight against climate change, protecting farms from invasive species or our communities from devastating wildfires, each of USDA’s employees deserve to be fairly compensated for their talents and for all the important work they do for our country," U.S Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release.
Roughly 50,000 Department of Defense employees, 400 Plant Protection Technicians and 3,800 Custodial Workers will also benefit from the minimum wage increase, the release stated. Collectively, the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and Veterans Affairs employ most federal employees that are currently paid below $15 per hour.
The U.S. Postal Service and Postal Regulatory Commission are legally outside the scope of OPM’s authority, and this raise and order do not apply to them.
