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Washington, D.C – The retirement cuts for federal employees proposed today by the administration are an assault on our nation's workforce and NTEU is determined to fight for the current and future well-being of the federal employees who have served this country, said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Tony Reardon.

“After dedicating their careers to public service, these employees deserve much better from our nation's leaders," said Reardon. "This budget seems to crudely celebrate the idea that federal employees should get smaller paychecks now and reduced benefits in their senior years. It is nothing short of a direct attack on the middle class families around the country who depend on these pensions to pay their bills month to month.”

The White House is pursuing five major changes that will affect all current and future retirees: raising the amount that current employees have to pay toward the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which is a pay cut; basing future retirement benefits on the average of the highest five years of salary instead of the current three; eliminating the FERS supplement for employees who retire before they can start collecting Social Security at age 62; eliminating the cost of living adjustments for all current and future retirees covered by FERS; and reducing the cost of living adjustments for Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) retirees.

The Office of Management and Budget claims that the increase in retirement contributions will save the government $72 billion over 10 years while the remaining cuts to federal retirement will save $76 billion over the same 10-year period. Taken together these proposals prove that this administration is intent on reducing the deficit on the backs of its own employees.

“I understand that to many reading this document, they will see nothing but numbers on a spreadsheet. But NTEU will make sure that Congress and the American people see the families that are behind each number,” Reardon said. “If you think these cuts only affect people in Washington D.C., think again. More than 80 percent of the federal workforce lives outside the nation’s capital, which means they are in every city, suburb and state. If you applaud this policy, then you are cheering for your neighbors to fall backward off the economic ladder. Last time I checked, that is not what this country is all about.”

This is not the first time federal employees have been asked to sacrifice. Since 2010, Congress has twice increased required employee contributions to the federal retirement program, essentially cutting workers’ take home pay. Unlike any other group, federal employees were singled out and have now contributed more than $20 billion to deficit reduction through increased retirement contributions, and more than $182 billion overall from combined pension contributions, pay cuts, and unpaid furlough days in the past few years.

Federal employees are not overpaid compared to the private sector, they do not have overly-generous retirement benefits and the work of the public cannot be done more effectively by the private-sector with a significantly smaller federal workforce.  In truth, the federal workforce has shrunk; it has higher educated workers than in the past given the changes in our nation’s overall workforce, economy and production; and the average FERS monthly pension is a modest $1,000.

“Federal employees and retirees had a deal with the government that they planned their lives around. Now the administration wants to move the goalposts. It is appalling to go after the modest retirement of nonpartisan federal workers while prioritizing programs for corporations and the wealthy,” Reardon said. “Our country is facing a retirement crisis and this budget proposal would add federal workers to the ranks of those Americans who cannot rely on a stable, secure retirement.”

Not even this budget’s proposed 1.9 percent pay raise for federal employees can sugarcoat these retirement cuts. NTEU is on record endorsing House and Senate proposals giving federal employees a 3.2 percent raise in 2018. Anything less would be wiped out by the increased contributions to FERS and fail to make up for years of below-market raises that have further squeezed middle-class federal workers who are dealing with the same challenges as private sector workers to pay for housing, food, medicine, child care and college tuition.

“It is ironic that the same administration that brags about protecting Social Security benefits for all Americans wants to punish those who spent their entire career in public service by forcing them to pay more for fewer retirement benefits,” Reardon said. “NTEU will actively oppose the retirement cuts as Congress begins to write the appropriation bills for 2018.”

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 31 federal agencies and departments.