After months of delay, blue-collar workers across the Department of Defense are finally getting their long-promised 2024 pay raises — and they will be paid retroactively.
The DoD Wage Committee has approved updated wage schedules covering more than 118,000 Federal Wage System employees across hundreds of pay areas nationwide. These raises were stalled earlier this year when committee meetings were frozen, leaving skilled trades workers waiting while costs continued to rise.
For Metal Trades workers in shipyards, depots, and military facilities, this decision is a critical step forward — but one that never should have taken this long.
“This delay was never about the value of the work these employees perform — it was about bureaucratic gridlock,” said Dale Troll, Metal Trades Department General Representative and one of the two labor representatives on the DoD Wage Committee. “Getting these raises implemented retroactively is the right outcome, but workers should never be forced to wait this long for pay they’ve already earned.”
While the retroactive pay will now be processed, full implementation could still take months. The Metal Trades Department will continue to press for reforms to prevent future delays and ensure that the skilled workforce that supports our national defense is treated with the respect it deserves.
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This is awesome, now how long is it going to be before the pay raise cap is removed (located: DIVISION E–FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS TITLE VII GENERAL PROVISIONS–GOVERNMENT-WIDE Sec. 737 (A) (B) (i)& (ii)) that expired in October 1979?
Has anybody actually received their 2025 cost of living raise? Our COLA was effective March 23, 2025. we were told that during the end of the year processing by DCPDS, our COLA and back pay would be taken care of. GS employees received their SF-50s for their 2026 cost of living raise, but nothing has happened with ours. 23 pay periods that we have gone without our cost-of-living raise. we suffered through the 44 day shutdown, as we had to show up to work everyday. Did we receive a bonus or even a thank you for your service, no nothing except lack of information. Now we are headed into another shutdown where we will be required to work without pay, and we have even received our COLA and back pay. It is ridiculous how the one committee that is required by law was shutdown for 8 months, then they finally issued pay tables, but no money and no real info on when they will be processed. this is a complete and utter lack of respect for the Department of Defense work force, that is required to work so vessels can keep to their schedules. On top of the COLA and back pay, there is a special Federal Wage System for the Jacksonville, Florida area, and not every trade was included like all of the other shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facilities. 90 percent of the “blue collar” workforce is on the special table, while the other 10 percent that do the same jobs, just in different job series are left 22 percent behind in pay. Only way to get the raise is to do what the executive director said during a town hall meeting, apply for a position in one of the trades that is on the table. That really shows character and respect for his employees? Trident Refit Bangor, Norfolk, and Portsmouth NSY have all of their blue-collar workers on a special pay scale, and you can’t really tell me it is because of a lack of skilled workers.