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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today called on every member of Congress to prevent sequestration, warning that its implementation would result in significant adverse consequences not only for federal employees but for the public they serve.

In a letter to every senator and House member, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said some federal agencies have already said the sequester would lead to one unpaid furlough day a week from March through the end of September. “That would amount to a huge loss of wages for employees and a huge loss of services for taxpayers,” she said.

Moreover, the NTEU leader said that given the size of the cuts—as much as 8 to 10 percent—“the requirement that each project, program and activity be cut by the same amount will prevent agencies from exercising discretion to ensure that the highest priority programs take the least amount of cuts.”

The sequester is scheduled to take effect on March 1. “This meat ax approach was never expected to be implemented,” Kelley wrote, “but rather to serve as an incentive to find sensible alternatives to sequestration.”

She noted that many agencies already are operating under severe funding reductions and that sequestration “will wreak havoc on their missions.”

As one example, Kelley pointed out the Internal Revenue Service is operating with 5,000 fewer employees than just two years ago, emphasizing that the agency’s ability to answer questions and deliver refunds “will be seriously impaired should further cuts be required by sequestration.”

Likewise, she said, Customs and Border Protection is seriously understaffed, with wait times at border crossings “already maddeningly long,” a circumstance that surely would be made worse if sequestration goes into effect.

Finally, she cautioned members of Congress about the continuing fragile state of the economy, arguing that the impact of sequestration could be to “turn the country back toward recession.”

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