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Washington, D.C. – The paychecks and pensions of all federal employees and retirees would be slashed under a series of unwise proposals that Congress should outright reject, NTEU National President Tony Reardon said in a new letter to lawmakers.

“Federal employees are middle class workers who can ill afford a 6 to 7 percent take-home pay cut, during a time that a formal pay freeze has already been proposed by the administration,” Reardon wrote to the leaders of a House committee.

Reardon’s letter was in response to a request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for Congress to act on the administration’s proposed cuts to federal employee retirement benefits.

The proposals are yet another attempt to try to cut the deficit by inflicting serious financial harm on secretaries, park rangers, customer service representatives, law enforcement personnel, physicians, scientists, accountants, inspectors and anyone who works on our nation’s security, the health and safety of the public, and the stability of our economy.

“It is especially disheartening that during Public Service Recognition Week, instead of honoring our public servants, we are having to defend them from plans to slash their paychecks and undermine their retirement security,” Reardon said. “These proposals not only hurt middle-class public employees financially, they are insulting to the men and women who have dedicated their careers to serving the American taxpayers.”

The OPM director, on behalf of the White House, wants to eliminate the supplement for federal law enforcement officers who are forced to retire before Social Security benefits begin; cut the monthly retirement income for all future federal retirees; increase the amount that employees pay into the retirement system, causing a pay cut of more than 6 percent; and reduce cost-of-living increases for current Civil Service Retirement System retirees and eliminate them for those in the Federal Employees Retirement System.

Reardon warned Congress that the result would be a disruptive exodus of talent from the federal workforce.

The average Federal Employees Retirement System monthly pension is a modest $1,100. 

“These proposals hurt all past, current and future retirees by reducing their monthly income now and throughout their senior years,” Reardon said. “Federal employees have earned their pensions and are counting on the security they will provide. Gutting the system is unfair to those who have turned down more lucrative jobs in the private sector because they wanted to serve their country and retire with dignity and security.”

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.