Announcements
December 15, 2011
Government agencies currently funded by a continuing resolution are
being instructed by the White House to begin reviewing shutdown
plans. The current CR expires at midnight on Friday. If Congress
has not completed work on the remaining appropriations bills, or
passed another CR, there could be a partial government shutdown.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley this afternoon discussed the steps
agencies were taking with Jeffrey Zients, Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Deputy Director for Management, and John Berry,
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director.

Shutdown Terms
Who Works?

Formerly referred to as “essential” and “non-essential”, agencies are
now using the term “excepted” to describe employees who are
required to work during a shutdown. “Excepted” employees are
described as “employees who are excepted from a furlough by law
because they are (1) performing emergency work involving the
safety of human life or the protection of property, (2) involved in the
orderly suspension of agency operations, or (3) performing other
functions exempted from the furlough.” All other employees paid by
appropriated funds will be deemed as “non-excepted” and furloughed
during the duration of a government shutdown.

Agencies with FY 2012 funding legislation in place that will not face
a government shutdown are:  Department of Transportation, HUD,
Agriculture, National Science Foundation, NASA, Department of
Justice, Commerce, FDA, and CFTC. Agencies funded with non-
appropriated funds: FDIC, NCUA and the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency will continue to operate.

The remaining government agencies will begin contacting employees
today and plan to provide informal determinations of excepted or non-
excepted employees by Friday with formal notice no later than
Monday. If the government shuts down on Friday at midnight, non-
excepted employees will report to work on their next scheduled
day—Saturday or Monday—to begin orderly shutdown procedures.
If possible, those activities can be conducted remotely.

Berry and Zients said President Obama does not want a government
shutdown and they acknowledged that the uncertainty over funding
puts employees in a very difficult spot.

The situation on Capitol Hill remains very fluid and a government
shutdown is not certain. The administration believes that Congress
still has time to resolve its unfinished business and pass legislation
that will fund the government for the remainder of the current fiscal
year. As we come closer to the deadline under the current CR,
agencies are scheduled to send employees additional information and
so will NTEU.
       
This is similar to the situation we faced in April, and should a partial
government shutdown occur, employees have many questions
including:

-whether or not they will be required to work;
-when, how, and if they will be paid; and
-how long a shutdown might last.

President Kelley specifically asked the administration officials about
employees who are out on ‘use or lose’ leave and OPM promised
guidance on that issue very shortly. NTEU is committed to working
with impacted agencies where the union represents workers to get
that information to employees. Additionally, OPM says it will be
updating shutdown information on its website.

NTEU will continue to closely monitor congressional action and stay
in touch with the administration and agency heads.

Be sure that NTEU has your most up-to-date contact information
including your home e-mail address. NTEU will be launching a
government shutdown webpage and invites all members to receive
breaking news updates to their cellphones by texting SHUTDOWN
to 24587.

December 9, 2011
Act Immediately to Stop Attacks on Pay and Retirement
NTEU Condemns House Bill Targeting Federal Employees

NTEU vehemently opposes a new proposal by House Republican
leadership that pays for the proposed payroll tax holiday with an
assault on middle-class federal employees’ pay and retirement.

Advanced today by Reps. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Dan Lungren (R-
Calif.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the
nearly 400-page bill would extend the pay freeze and increase
employee pension contributions by 0.5 percent each year for three
years, with the 1.5 percent total then becoming permanent in January
2015. It would also create a new category of new hires, those with
less than five years of previous federal experience, who would see
an increase to their pension contribution of 3.2 percent beginning
January 2013. This category of new hires would see a number of
changes to pension formula calculations, including using the high 5
average rather than the high 3 and changing the “multiplier,” resulting
in a reduction of some 30 percent in the value of pensions.

Urgent Contact CongressNTEU President Colleen M. Kelley blasted
the unwise and unjust proposal. “A key purpose of this tax cut is to
stimulate the economy by allowing middle-class workers, who are
most likely to spend any excess cash, to keep more of their earnings.
Actions like freezing pay and cutting the jobs of other middle-class
workers to offset this tax reduction completely eliminates any
positive impact on our struggling economy,” she said.

President Kelley sent a letter to every member of the House of
Representatives urging them to oppose H.R. 3630. In our letter to the
House, NTEU cited a litany of onerous provisions in the bill that
would adversely impact federal employees, including extending the
pay freeze on federal employees for an additional year, mandatory
increases in employee pension contributions, elimination of the social
security supplement, except for those with mandatory retirement
ages, and changes to federal pensions that would dramatically reduce
their overall value.

This onerous and ill-advised bill is expected to be voted on next
week. NTEU members must act immediately and tell their
representative to reject H.R. 3630. You must act and make your
voice heard on Capitol Hill.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would take an
additional $64.5 billion from federal employees over 10 years, over
and above the $60 billion from the two-year pay freeze already in
effect. That $64.5 billion includes $36.7 billion in revenue from
increased pension contributions, $1.8 billion in mandatory spending
from pension reductions and $26 billion in discretionary spending
from the extension of the pay freeze, while requiring no additional
sacrifice from the wealthy.

“This legislation is the wrong direction for our nation,” Kelley said.
“Has this Congress learned nothing from the lessons of Ohio and
Wisconsin? Americans are fed up with politicians attacking the
financial stability of working people while bending over backwards
to spare the wealthy.”

Tell the House of Representatives it is time to stop the attacks on
middle-class workers. Call your Representative today and help NTEU
stop this assault on federal employees.
If you wish to join
NTEU, please fill out
the application here
and submit to the
Union Office in
Building 77.  For the
dues click here.
NTEU
JFK CHAPTER 153