Tag: wildland firefighter pay

Daines Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Raise Overtime Pay Cap for Wildland Firefighters

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines helped introduce bipartisan legislation to permanently raise the caps on overtime premium pay for federal wildland firefighters. The “Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act” would increase these overtime pay caps to appropriately compensate Forest Service and Department of the Interior wildland firefighters for the work they do. Despite risking their lives and traveling cross-country for months at a time to protect American communities and forests from catastrophic wildfires, many of the more than 11,000 wildland firefighters live paycheck to paycheck. This has contributed to a firefighter workforce shortage — already, 20 percent of Forest Service permanent firefighter positions are

Daines Calls on Senate Leadership to Support Montana Wildland Firefighters, Protect Increased Pay

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines joined a group of bipartisan senators in urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to avoid mass resignations of Montana wildland firefighters and promptly pass their bipartisan “Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act.” Daines secured a pay raise for federal wildland firefighters in his “Wildland Firefighter Fair Pay Act” that will expire on October 1. “Due to the dangers that wildfires pose to our forests and communities, a lack of action to ensure the fair treatment of our federal wildland firefighting workforce would jeopardize national security. Therefore, we request that