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Washington, D.C.—The General Services Administration (GSA) should immediately raise the mileage reimbursement rate for the many federal workers who use their private vehicles in the performance of their duties, head of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees said today.

In a letter to GSA Administrator Martha N. Johnson, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said it would be unfair for the agency not to move immediately. Earlier this year, GSA declined to boost the rate to a new 55.5 cents per mile established by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) due to high gas prices.

GSA sets the reimbursement rate for the federal workforce, consistent with the limit established by the IRS. When the IRS in June raised the rate from 51 cents per mile for the balance of this year to 55.5 cents per mile, GSA declined to follow that lead, arguing that gas prices had peaked.

In her letter, however, President Kelley noted the IRS announcement that, effective Jan. 1, the higher 55.5-cent-per-mile rate would remain in place. “We now have both the IRS determination for mid-year 2011 and 2012, validating the appropriateness of the higher rate,” the NTEU leader wrote.

She added that federal employees should not be reimbursed at the 51-cent mileage rate for even a short period of the new year. “I would remind you that federal employees are suffering under a pay freeze, making substandard reimbursement for the expenses they incur performing government work all the more burdensome.”

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