Getting more steam
0700 PST 10/27/21 the bill goes to the natural resources committee.
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Actually heard a high level line officer say today they hope to see starting pay at $20 and scale up from there.
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Case in point, one of our biggest legacy challenges is having people speak on our behalf that have no experience in fire as Ms. Hall-Riveria stated of herself. No offense to her, but I continue to see the lack of understanding what’s happening at the ground level with the real retention issues…All the salary stuff is of course needed along with the other bullet points, but we need fire people leading the fire programs for long term improvements.
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Fire people involved in the union?
Because if the WFCPA gets approved, the union will be fighting to get every other Federal worker the same benefits. OPM is aware of this and will be fighting against anything other than a new classification and new pay scales.
Testimony today on the Tim Hart Act.
The recorded session can be heard here.
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Need to start entry level pay at $20 per house and scale up, plus H and portal to portal. This would be a game changer. This could bring significant interest and competition for these fed positions.
We need to get this. A day should not go bye where the thousands of us are not calling, emailing, blogging or doing something to reach out to an elected official.
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The House has scheduled this Tuesday to vote on the bipartisan Infra bill and send it to the Presidents desk. As a reminder of what’s in this bill, here is a piece of the letter Diane Feinstein and a group of Democrat Senators coauthored to Sec’s Haaland and Vilsack a month ago.
“We ask that your agencies begin working together now to be in position to swiftly implement the pay increase ($20,000 or 50% of annual salary, which ever is lower) for federal wildland firefighters, the development of a distinct ‘wildland firefighter’ occupational series, and the conversion of at least 1,000 seasonal firefighting positions to permanent positions once this bill is signed into law.”
This is a bipartisan bill and a solid second phase in support of Federal Wildland Firefighters.
However we must never stop fighting for the passage of the Tim Hart Act. The passage of the Tim Hart Act is the game changer, and we must do whatever we can to get it to Biden’s desk.
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Let’s get it done people. The Tim Hart Act can become law. We have bipartisan support. Keep fighting, do whatever you can we reach out to lawmakers and discuss the Tim Hart Act. We can do this! Please take a moment and listen to Rep Neguse.
#TimHartAct
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This will be the 3rd time this bill has been scheduled for a vote in the house. The prior 2 times it was pulled at the last minute due to the votes not being there. The Progressive Caucus WILL NOT vote for this bill without a vote in the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill at the same time. The BBB bill doesn’t have the support in Senate in its original form for 3.5T. Last Thur POTUS outlined a “Framework” for a revised BBB at 1.95T, but there is ZERO LEGISLATION for said framework. Additionally, the Progressive Caucus has said the the BBB at 1.95T isn’t enough and several Senators have said 1.95T is too much.
Until the votes to overcome the Progressive Caucus opposition to a stand alone Infrastructure Bill vote changes. As said in INGLORIOUS BASTARDS “What we have here is a Mexican Stand Off”
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A 100% of house progressives support the Senates infra bill and the house will pass it and send to the presidents desk. It’s political suicide not too. The progressives and two dem senators do have differences on what BBB should look like and how it’s paid for. BBB is 90% written right now, they need to work out the final details. Progressives want to vote on both bills at the same time.
For this long overdue second step for federal wildland firefighters, I am hoping the vote is this week so the departments can get to work soon on implementing and more importantly, so we all can see what implementation looks like, which is always a concern when you involve department bureaucrats.
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After several months, the House of Representatives has passed the Infrastructure Bill (11/5/2021) This is the Sentate bill that includes the WFF pay increase as Championed by Senator Feinstein. Progress has been made.
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POTUS signs tomorrow:
Pay increase ($20,000 or 50% of annual salary, which ever is lower) for federal wildland firefighters.
Development of a distinct ‘wildland firefighter’ occupational series.
conversion of at least 1,000 seasonal firefighting positions to permanent positions.
Tim Hart Act next.
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Keep on the gas! This is just the beginning!
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Ok, so now what’s the timeline for signage and implementation?
So I noticed yesterday when all the temp jobs opened that there were no GS-3 fire jobs. The lowest position shown for fire was a GS-4. It’s a start but keep up the pressure. Change needs to occur all the way through the fire organization.
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Hard to say Knife. Two letters were sent recently from Senators asking Sec’s to implement quickly after passage. As Hrryup said: keep the gas on the pedal.
Ask leadership what does this look like and when does it start. Use every tool you have in the box to reach out and ask local, regional and agency leadership, including elected officials what’s the status of this? Now that this is turned over to agency bureaucrats including HR officials, DC budget hawks, Solicitors and many GS14,15 and SES’s making over 150k to determine implementation, this period of time worries me the most.
Be vocal!
The #TimHartAct is next.
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Changing to a Wildland Firefighter series sounds pretty straight forward, but that could come with a whole set of other changes (portal portal, H pay loss?). Will be interesting to see this get refined.
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First off, this is a big deal in the facet that people have been asking for a change like this for 30+ years and we are fortunate to be experiencing this in our careers. I feel very lucky. It’s kind of sad to say it so desperately but the fact that this legislation passed gives me hope the Tim Hart act has a chance as well.
I too, am curious to see how this all plays out with the creation of the new job series. Also what will things look like if they pass the Tim Hart act. And mash both pieces of legislation together. Back to the speculation board!
I suggest looking to your seniors and congresspersons to keep this train rolling, with what right looks like.
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