Pay raises for many federal firefighters to begin next week
Source: LA Times
After years of demanding better pay, many federal firefighters will receive modest raises next week as the Biden administration makes good on a pledge to ensure that no firefighter earns less than $15 an hour.
Administration officials on Tuesday said the initiative will boost pay for more than 14,800 firefighters employed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior Department. Larger paychecks will likely begin appearing around Aug. 24 and will include retroactive raises dating back to June 30, when President Biden first promised to increase firefighters’ pay.
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Under the changes announced Tuesday, year-round and seasonal firefighters are eligible for the pay raises, as are retired employees who volunteer to come back to fight fires. In addition, all seasonal firefighters on the front lines will receive a $1,300 bonus and most permanent frontline firefighters will get a bonus of 10% of six months of their base pay.
The changes are temporary and are being distributed as bonuses in order to get money into firefighters’ bank accounts as quickly as possible.
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Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-08-17/pay-raises-for-many-federal-firefighters-to-begin-next-week
Good. The low pay was unacceptable, as Biden has said. This is still too low, and only temporary. But the infrastructure bill passed by the Senate has $600 million to increase firefighters' wages, and will let the Forest Service and Interior raise firefighters' pay by $20,000 or 50% of their base pay.
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And I say this as someone who lives in a fire-prone area and had a couple of brushes with extremely destructive fires! Give them any pay raises they ask for! 
