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REPORT TO CONGRESS

SALINAS-MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, FEDERAL WAGE SYSTEM WAGE AREA

A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

I am pleased to present the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) report to Congress on the Salinas-Monterey, California, Federal Wage System (FWS) wage area. This report was prepared in response to House Report 107-152, which accompanied H.R. 2590 (enacted as Public Law 107-67, November 12, 2001). In that report, the House Committee on Appropriations directed OPM to report on its intentions with regard to implementing a local wage area committee recommendation to abolish the wage area and combine it with the San Francisco wage area.

On December 20, 2001, OPM provided Congress with a status report on the Salinas-Monterey wage area advising that it has been our longstanding policy to make no changes in the boundaries of FWS wage areas without first seeking the advice of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC). FPRAC is the statutory national labor-management committee responsible for advising OPM on matters affecting the determination of prevailing rates of pay for blue-collar Federal employees. My staff introduced a study of the Salinas-Monterey wage area at FPRAC early this year. On July 25, FPRAC completed its review. By consensus, FPRAC agreed that at this time the Government can best determine prevailing rates for Monterey and San Benito Counties by maintaining a separate Salinas-Monterey wage area. FPRAC has informed me that it intends to study the Salinas-Monterey wage area next year once it receives new information on commuting patterns from the 2000 census. FPRAC has asked that I notify Congress of the results of this study upon its completion.

Based on FPRAC’s findings and my thorough review of this matter, I believe the Salinas-Monterey wage area is appropriately defined to determine prevailing rates for FWS employees in Monterey and San Benito Counties, California. The President's emphasis on the strategic management of human capital in the Federal Government places a renewed focus on the need for creative use of current human resources management flexibilities to address existing or potential recruitment or retention problems. OPM is not aware of any widespread recruitment or retention problems in the Salinas-Monterey wage area. However, a number of pay flexibilities are available for use by all Federal agencies to deal with any recruitment or retention problems they may experience with respect to the Government's blue-collar workforce, and our report highlights those flexibilities.

I want to thank the dedicated staff of OPM’s Workforce Compensation and Performance Service and the members of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee for their work in reviewing this issue and preparing this report. The report can be found on the OPM Web site at www.opm.gov/oca/wage.

Kay Coles James
Director

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