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Washington, D.C.— The leader of the nation’s largest independent federal employees union called on members of the House of Representatives to reject a budget reconciliation bill proposing severe cuts that would have a harsh impact on federal employees, their agencies and their ability to serve the American people.

“The budget reconciliation bill calls for an additional $82 billion in cuts from federal workforce compensation, 27 percent of all mandatory spending cuts in the bill,” Colleen M. Kelley, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), wrote in a letter to all House members today. “This is on top of the $75 billion the federal workforce has already sustained.”

Scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday, the budget reconciliation legislation (H.R. 4966) would require employees in both Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to contribute an additional 5 percent of salary toward their pensions, phased in over five years. Newly hired employees would automatically begin with a 5-percent increase.

That means FERS employees would pay 5.8 percent into FERS, either 4.2 or 6.2 percent into Social Security, and possibly, if they can still afford it, 5 percent into the Thrift Savings Plan, Kelley noted. “That’s 17 percent of take-home pay going for retirement funding,” she said.

“Make no mistake about it; an increased contribution toward one’s pension, with no corresponding increase in benefits, is a pay cut,” Kelley wrote. “A pay cut of this magnitude simply cannot be defended, especially when there has been no pay raise for the last two years.”

Additionally, H.R. 4966 would replace the majority of the automatic sequester cuts aimed at defense accounts with additional domestic discretionary spending cuts. This would result in dramatic workforce reductions and force agencies to cut public services.

“Federal employees work every day to protect our borders, our travel, our food, our veterans, our investments and our safety nets,” Kelley wrote. “Yet, the wealthy and the oil and gas corporations are not directed to make any sacrifice at all. Contrary to the beliefs of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the author of the bill, federal employees are not ‘immune from the effects of the recession.’ Many struggle to meet their mortgage payments, to pay for the gas to fill their car, and to save for their children’s education, just like the rest of America.”

Continued cuts and attacks on the federal workforce threaten the government’s ability to attract and retain talented people, the NTEU leader said. “Already we are seeing a significant increase in retirements and a significant decline in interest in federal service by college graduates.”

NTEU represents about 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.