Fed firefighters need greater recognition, better pay
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These feds have a particularly tough job, and their union's leader told lawmakers they need better treatment and pay from those in charge back at headquarters.
Federal wildfire firefighters recently got a bit of much-deserved recognition in Congress—and a call from their union to get more than that.
“Your Union, the National Federation of Federal Employees, represents many of the wildland firefighter heroes at both Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture,” Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), said. “The Union has partnered with the agencies to try to make firefighting safer and pay an appropriate and fair salary.”
“As Congress is currently reviewing several different proposed bills, it appears much can be resolved within existing laws,” Sinema continued. “If CHCOs had more authority to make changes within existing laws, what would be the day-to-day impact on firefighters in my state of Arizona and across the nation?”
The moment was highlighted in a statement and video posted by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), whose executive director Steve Lenkart echoed the recognition of his union’s members. In his testimony before Congress that day, Lenkart affirmed to Sinema and a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that, yes, agency Chief Human Capital Officers—CHCOs—already have legal authority to do much more for firefighters, including on pending pay issues suffered by these mostly chronically undercompensated heroes.
Lenkart also took the opportunity to opine that perhaps CHCOs need to get out of their offices and into the field, to witness just how tough the work is and why many feds need more support and innovative changes to happen on compensation. Lenkart said such greater understanding from headquarters is needed in fields well beyond just that of firefighting.
“Stick them with a fire crew in a forest for a couple weeks, stick them with a VA nurse and make some rounds on a floor, [or] have them sit on the border,” Lenkart said. “There is a myriad of things that the government does that they can participate in to better understand the needs of those jobs very specifically.”