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The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today called on NTEU members from around the country to speak out publicly about their pride in government service and the work they perform on behalf of Americans every day.

At a loud, Lower Manhattan rally of hundreds of NTEU members from throughout the Greater New York area, with the theme “Proud to Work for America,” NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley told the crowd at Federal Plaza: “We are here to deliver some important messages to the public, the media and the members of Congress.

“You and your colleagues keep our borders secure, at great personal risk; you protect investors; you get taxpayers their tax refunds; you keep our food and drugs safe; you process Social Security claims; you make sure kids get school lunches; you ensure that Americans have the best quality of life in the world. And what do you ask in return? It’s simple. Respect.”

The NTEU leader was joined in addressing the crowd by NTEU Chapter 47 President Frank Heffler. Chapter 47 represents IRS employees in Manhattan, and sponsored the rally. NTEU Chapter 60 (IRS New Jersey), led by its president, John Kelshaw, brought two busloads of federal employees to the rally.

“At this critically-important juncture for our country, it is vital that we not only stress our contributions to our fellow Americans,” Heffler said, “but that we stand up for our rights, pay and benefits, all of which we earn every day by our performance on behalf of the public.”

President Kelley focused, in part, on the crisis surrounding the debt ceiling, noting that federal workers do not want a government default, nor deep cuts in spending such as those approved earlier this year by the House of Representatives. Such cuts, she said, “would mean furloughs and layoffs, and the inability to deliver critical agency missions.”

Moreover, she stressed the unfairness of political leaders failing to consider tax increases or the closings of loopholes in the tax code, but instead targeting the federal workforce for significant additional pay and benefit cuts beyond the hit they already have taken in the form of a two-year pay freeze.

President Kelley ran down a partial list of the continuing political and legislative attacks against federal employees, including efforts to reduce funding that helps keep the nation’s food supply safe, helps secure retirement and investment savings and earnings, ensures clean air and water, and collects the revenue that supports it all, among other activities.

“Federal employees are more than willing to do their fair share to help resolve our fiscal crisis,” she told the crowd, noting pointedly about the previous administration that “if they had listened to us, we have a lot of good ideas about where they could save money—like cutting the vast army of contractors—and where they could increase revenue.”

After all, she added, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees bring in more than 93 percent of all the revenue that keeps the country running, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees are the country’s second-largest source of revenue. Both groups are represented by NTEU.

“And guess what?” she said. ‘They are cutting the IRS budget and failing to provide CBP with the trade staffing it needs. So they are ignoring the revenue possibilities that could help solve the deficit crisis.”

Kelley added: “Show us the resources, we’ll show you the money.”

The NTEU leader addressed a number of the attacks on federal employees, calling them ‘wrong,’ including such actions as subjecting them to a two-year pay freeze when the nation’s debt crisis did not arise out of high federal pay or benefits; giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans while cutting critical federal agency services to the American people; and a proposals to require federal employees to pay a higher share of their salary toward their retirement.

America, Kelley told rally participants, needs the services they provide, so “Congress needs to stop attacking federal workers and working Americans, and come to agreement on adequate funding to provide these services.”

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