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Washington, D.C.—In a strongly-worded letter, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today called on the House to defeat a proposal to offset extension of the payroll tax holiday with huge cuts to federal worker pay and benefits.

In a letter to every House member, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said “it is outrageous that the authors of this bill would single out hard-working middle-class federal employees to bear such a disproportionate burden while continuing to oppose even the smallest sacrifice by the most affluent.”

H.R. 3630, the House leadership bill, would unfairly target the federal workforce for further sacrifice to pay for an extension of the payroll tax holiday, “which ironically, many federal workers are not eligible for,” Kelley wrote.

The offsets in the pending legislation include, for all current federal employees, a one-year extension of the current two-year freeze on federal pay; a 1.5 percent increase in employee pension contributions, phased in over three years; and the elimination of the Social Security supplement, except for those facing mandatory retirement.

Kelley has emphasized repeatedly the need for shared sacrifice to address the nation’s fiscal issues, noting that federal workers are making a $60 billion contribution to those efforts, over 10 years, as a result of the current pay freeze.

The House legislation also would create a new class of employees—those with less than five years of service—who would see pension contribution increases of 3.2 percent in January 2013; pensions based on a high-5 salary calculation, rather than high-3; and an annuity multiplier that would lower pension values by some 30 percent.

“These unwise and misguided attacks on the dedicated federal workforce will have unwelcome consequences for all Americans,” President Kelley said.

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