Wildland Firefighter Entry Level Pay

Agree. I just think any debate on which shift is better is not needed, here. Additionally any poke at any other agency is not acceptable imho. We’re all in this together. Thanks for those insights TW, very helpful.

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I’ll defer to you as shift length was not the reason for your creation of this thread. Much respect…

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That’s Affrim on shifts! The goal is to help our brothers and sister that deserve a better living wage and benefits. I worked for the Red Army for over 30 yrs. At times Green Army would cover my station when we were gone. Run the same calls that we would if we would of been in station.
We had a great working relationship. Train together and on certain fires they were my second engine in and I was happy to have them. Bottom line, a better wage and benefits for them is a win for everyone down the line!

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NFFE response to the administration.

#NotEnough

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Awesome. For new folks that would like to stick with us thank you. Please look up the poem if. And another.

Both are about the character that would be beneficial to have. I’m close to 50 and my Dad mandated it, so glad he did,

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This Amendment passed the senate Energy and Natural Resources committee and is currently part of the Energy Infrastructure Act.

https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/62DF823F-C02C-4872-8763-86C36C495A57

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Has anyone seen anything official from Forest Service D.C on the details of how they will pay out the Biden directive for more pay for Wildland firefighters?

I heard BLM is doing $1,300 for temps plus the difference between the hourly rate to $15.00. All perms to the GS 9 will get 10% of 50% of their annual salary.

#NotEnough
#StopTheBleed

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My understanding is that the retention will take effect in the next 6 weeks and for 6 months. $1000 for seasonals. And 10% bonus for perms

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That was my understanding as well. 10% increase for permanent employees and $1000 for temporary employees (1039s). Latest word I have is it will be implemented by the beginning of September. Can anyone confirm this?

This is an first step but is just that, one step. We will need a couple more steps to satiate the the attrition. Keep the train rolling. Contact your local congressperson. Be relentless.

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I was disappointed to see it only initially set for 6 months. I think it should say “the retention bonus will be in place until a permanent adjustment to appropriate pay is made.” Not trying to nitpick, but the people deserve the best we can get them.

For context, the last 10% retention bonus in Region 5 started at the begining of 2010 and lasted two years.

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Agree with that FSFF.

And

Keep the pressure on.

#NotEnough

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Unskilled Labor

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FS is prioritizing the $1000 cash award for the seasonal but they are saying it may take up to 6 weeks for all the 52s to get processed. The 10% bonus for GS-9s and below may take up to 6 months to be processed.

Seems like they could implement PtP immediately just by adding that to your resource order but I haven’t heard much mention of that lately

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They could if they tried to.

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The President wildfire update with Governors. 30 mins. Worth a listen…

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But the House is refusing to even vote on this until a larger 3 trillion spend bill gets passed by the senate. So this is dead in the water. Our political leaders only care about the own party beliefs and nothing else.

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This issue being thrown into an omnibus bill is frustrating. Just make it a stand alone and get it done. A 1000 bucks for a temp is a slap in the face imho. Figure everyone on a crew works a min 1000 hours of OT a season now throw in the 1040 regular hours and they got less then a 50 cents an hour raise because they dont get compounding on overtime. What a joke they should be ashamed of themselves.

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It was good. Obviously the man has hundreds of staffers and prepared notes. However he’s probably the one guy who can get a name request through NICC/NIFC, well maybe. You have to hand it to Joe for addressing this, again. Thanks Joe.

Also have to give Newsome credit for speaking up about the need for aggressive federal initial attack. A lot of variables go into aggressive initial attack as you all know. These are not grass fires on an off ramp from I-5. I don’t know if I agree with wholeheartedly with Newsome on his statement, however at least he did not use his time to provide a partisan pat on the back. He told it as he sees it and/or how he was briefed by his fire officials.

I also liked the bipartisan tone and acknowledgment from all of them about the exceptional and hazardous work Wildland Firefighters perform.

Keep fighting.

-Entry level pay of $21 an hour for Wildland Firefighters and scale up through the ranks.

-A federal Wildland Firefighter series

-Implement portal to portal pay for Wildland Firefighters while on Wildland fires or all hazard emergencies.

Awards and bonuses are not enough to stop the bleed.

#NotEnough

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I don’t think anything is dead in the water. Dems just need to keep there left flank progressives in the house and right flank moderate dem senators in line and on the same page.

I am more worried about how the agency bureaucrats will implement as the loop holes look real.

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