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Washington, D.C.—A multi-member coalition of organizations representing millions of federal and postal employees and retirees, including the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), today sharply criticized upcoming House legislation for its “malicious intent” toward the federal workforce.

In a letter to House members, the nearly 30-member Federal-Postal Coalition expressed strong opposition to four measures, saying that while each of the bills “may have a superficial appeal, taken together, their malicious intent is transparent.”

The group, representing managers as well as frontline employees and retirees, urged House members to “uphold fairness and due process in the treatment of those who carry out the nation’s laws” by opposing the measures. The package of bills would cap employee awards, allow for the recording of all phone calls, limit due process for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees, and provide for termination of senior executives without first proving cause.

The letter says the bills amount to “a petty and unfounded attack upon the dedicated men and women who comprise the nation’s federal workforce.” The coalition added that “federal workers may be a convenient scapegoat for the nation’s problems, but attacking their workplace and employment rights is unwarranted and counterproductive.”

Today’s coalition letter follows a similar one sent to Capitol Hill yesterday by NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley calling on lawmakers to oppose the bills.

“Dedicated federal employees are working harder than ever in the face of insufficient resources for their agencies,” President Kelley said. “Bills like these reflect a counterproductive attitude on the part of far too many in Congress who are willing to denigrate the continuing contributions of this vital workforce for political gain.”

These are the four measures opposed by the coalition that are scheduled for votes on the House floor this week:

H.R. 1541 would cap at 5 percent per year the amount of awards a federal employee can receive while sequestration is in effect. Sequestration currently is scheduled to run until 2021. “While most federal employees do not receive incentive awards of five percent or more,” the coalition wrote, “agencies should not be denied the ability to reward superior performance in their efforts to recruit and retain the best and the brightest.”

H.R. 2579 would allow political appointees to terminate a career senior executive without any oversight and without having to prove cause. “In essence,” the group wrote, “it would consider a career senior executive guilty of any alleged offense until proven innocent,” emphasizing that “the tools are already in place” to hold senior executives accountable for their conduct.

H.R. 2565 would require termination from employment of IRS employees who undertake any official action with respect to a taxpayer for personal gain or political purpose. The termination procedure would deny them the due process protections afforded other federal employees, including review by an independent third party such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, the coalition said. It emphasized that current authority already prohibits and punishes IRS and other government employees from undertaking any official action for personal gain or political purpose. “This bill is being promoted based on the inaccurate narrative that IRS employees acted out of political motivation in reviewing applications for tax exempt status,” the letter says. None of the multiple investigations of that matter have turned up any evidence of such motivation.

H.R. 2711 would permit every official interaction by any executive branch employee to be recorded by the other party. In some circumstances, the employee would have to notify the other person of his right to record the conversation, or face discipline. This legislation, which permits no exceptions nor contains any requirement that the federal employee be informed of the taping, “raises serious privacy concerns and could seriously undermine law enforcement investigations,” the coalition letter said.

It added: “Instead of constructively addressing the many serious issues facing the nation, these measures demonize the nearly two million public servants who serve America and keep its citizens safe.”

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