{"id":249660,"date":"2024-08-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=249660"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:30:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T18:30:39","slug":"wage-system-employees-receive-pay-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=249660","title":{"rendered":"Wage system employees receive pay increase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Amber Anderson, a maintenance mechanic with the Directorate of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division, poses for a photo after verifying the integrity of an electrical circuit at a barracks building Aug. 2, 2024, at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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\n Amber Anderson, a maintenance mechanic with the Directorate of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division, verifies the integrity of an electrical circuit at a barracks building Aug. 2, 2024, at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 After a sizable increase last year, wage system employees will see another pay increase this year.<\/p>\n

On average, non-supervisory wage system employees and leader positions will see a 5.23% pay increase, while supervisory wage system employees will receive a 5.10% pay increase.<\/p>\n

This increase went into effect July 28.<\/p>\n

Amber Anderson, a maintenance mechanic with Directorate of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division, said the increase was much needed.<\/p>\n

Robert Blas, another maintenance mechanic with the DPW OMD, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an amazing thing because of prices rising, and it helps even for the maintenance department \u2014 for us \u2014 to progress and get a fair pay amongst technicians working hard out here,\u201d Blas said. \u201cI think (the pay increase) would help out, basically, for everyone to upkeep and manage their bills, especially with inflation coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The increases come after a wage change survey was conducted in May. Fort Cavazos was the host installation for the May 2024 Waco area Wage Change Survey.<\/p>\n

A wage change survey differs from a full-scale wage survey, which was conducted last year, in that wage adjustment data is collected by telephone from those companies that provided useable job matches on the full-scale survey. No other companies are contacted, and only dollar figures are updated. Job matches and job populations are not changed on this type of survey.<\/p>\n

A full-scale wage survey is held every two years. During the survey, industries in the local area (Bell, Coryell and McLennan Counties) are surveyed to compile market pay data to assess the effectiveness of the current federal wage system pay structure and rates. The survey includes establishments in the following industries: wholesale trade, manufacturing, public utilities, transportation and communications.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The pay increase) is another step toward paying an appropriate, compensable wage that is in line with what our colleagues in the private sector are earning,\u201d said Catherine Levandovsky, Labor, Management, Employee Relations Division chief with the Civilian Human Resource Agency-West. \u201cSo that\u2019s really, really important for our blue-collar trades to make a comparable wage to what the private sector\u2019s making, helps us with retention, helps us complete the mission on Fort Cavazos and, really, it\u2019s a quality of life issue for our wage system employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that they\u2019re being paid not only well, but fairly and equitably for the jobs that they\u2019re doing,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

While the pay increase is in effect, it will take time to reflect in paychecks, as the new pay tables must be uploaded in the pay system, then adjustments must be completed and ensured they are correct, Levandovsky said.<\/p>\n

Brian Dosa, director of DPW, spoke on the importance of wage systems employees and the role they play, specifically for the Operations and Maintenance Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe success of DPW is dependent on the work of our technicians in the Operations and Maintenance Division, who we cannot pay enough for the great work they do every day in serving Soldiers, families and units at Fort Cavazos,\u201d Dosa expressed. \u201cAlthough understaffed and often at the mercy of the supply chain for repair parts, they are doing amazing work sustaining our facilities and infrastructure. This pay raise is more than well deserved and will allow us to better recruit and retain our very talented employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why he chose to work for the government, Blas said it was the progress and his coworkers that made it appealing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause (the government\u2019s) opportunities to grow and learn and progress here within this company is at its best,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the people that surround me, that inspire our need to progress and better a career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson was laid off her previous job as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic and chose her current job with the government because it\u2019s solid, reliable and able to help people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being able to help people,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a single mother, so I know I need to take anything that\u2019s steady and reliable. Being able to help our Soldiers in a capacity that I\u2019m able to while also being able to take care of my family was a good opportunity to take that I didn\u2019t want to pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Amber Anderson, a maintenance mechanic with the Directorate of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division, poses for a photo after verifying the integrity of an electrical circuit at a barracks building Aug. 2, 2024, at Fort Cavazos, Texas. (Photo Credit: Photo by Ayumi Davis, Fort Cavazos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249662,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249660"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249665,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249660\/revisions\/249665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/249662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}