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Washington, D.C.—The impending Obama administration provides the opportunity to rethink the priorities of federal agencies and improve on the delivery of services to the public—and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) stands ready to help in that process and find solutions to the nation’s problems, the head of the union told President-elect Barack Obama in a letter.

“Every federal employee has a role to play in getting our economy back on track, restoring faith in government and delivering the essential services the American people rely on,” wrote NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. She sent the letter to President-elect Obama yesterday.

NTEU endorsed the president-elect, and its chapters and members across the country worked tirelessly for his election and are enthusiastic about the possibilities of the new administration.

Frontline employees, she wrote, “are the strongest asset the federal government possesses, and these employees have many ideas on how federal agencies can better serve our country.”

She added that while “federal employees are proud to serve our country, they have been denied the dignity and respect they deserve.” With President-elect Obama’s leadership, she wrote, “we can change the false perception that many Americans have about government, and showcase federal agencies as the innovative and challenging workplaces that they are.”

In her letter, Kelley noted that during his campaign, the president-elect spoke often about a call to public service, and made it a point to say how important it is to make federal service a desirable career once again. “NTEU could not agree more,” she wrote.

NTEU will work with the Obama administration and Congress on a number of measures that will help federal agencies focus more on delivering services to the American public and less on wasteful contracts, consultants and near-constant changes of personnel systems, President Kelley said.

These include finding savings and increasing accountability by ending inefficient contracts and bringing work back into federal agencies; providing adequate resources to agencies, including sufficient staffing levels, and the necessary authority to achieve agency missions; driving agency resources to the frontlines; and increasing productivity at our agencies through the use of partnership and other collaborative efforts.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.