Budget

Union urges super committee to halt federal pay cuts

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 625,000 federal employees, is pushing for a stop to the proposed cuts to federal pay, bene...

Federal News Network Staff

August 26, 2011 2:34 pm

1 min read

By Jolie Lee
Federal News Radio

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 625,000 federal employees, is pushing for a stop to the proposed cuts to federal pay, benefits and workforce sizes.

The union sent a letter today to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), co-chair of the 12-member super committee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in savings over the next decade. The committee has a November deadline to offers its recommendations.

Some of the proposals coming out of previous debt talks directly hit feds in the pocketbook. AFGE wants these proposals off the bargaining table.

“The hardworking and dedicated Americans who make up the federal workforce had no part in creating the budget problems that Congress is trying to address, and undermining their livelihoods should play no part in resolving these problems,” AFGE said in the letter to Murray.

Among the proposed cost-savings measures is a provision in the House-passed fiscal 2012 budget that increases federal employees’ retirement contributions from 0.8 percent to about 6 percent. Some federal employees groups have called the proposal an equivalent to a 5 percent pay reduction.

Another proposal would change the federal annuity formula from the high-three to the high-five, meaning annuity will be calculated based on the highest five years’ salary instead of the highest three years.

Workforce sizes may also be a target in the super committee recommendations. AFGE points out that the size of the federal workforce as a proportion of the overall population has decreased — from one federal employee per 78 Americans in 1953 to one fed per 166 Americans in 2008.

“The men and women who make up the federal workforce are performing increasingly vital — and often dangerous — tasks but with fewer resources and insufficient staffing,” AFGE said in the letter.