Today, NALC President Brian L. Renfroe participated in a Capitol Hill roundtable focusing on provisions set to be included in the budget reconciliation package that targets federal and postal employees’ retirement benefits.
“Our members are public servants who provide an essential service for every single American household and business,” Renfroe said. “Our members go into public service because it’s a good, stable job with reliable benefits.
“Cutting retirement benefits and increasing what we have to pay for them is unconscionable, and let’s call it what it is—a pay cut.”
Renfroe pointed out that taxpayers do not fund letter carrier retirement benefits or USPS.
“The agency is off-budget. Lawmakers are trying to use hard-working letter carriers and postal employees to offset federal spending, even though taxpayers’ dollars have nothing to do with us.
“These proposals are pay and benefit cuts for postal employees that won’t make a dent in the deficit. It’s an attack. Plain and simple,” he said.
Representatives from other unions representing federal and postal employees also attended.
Today’s round table followed the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability advancing a measure as part of the budget reconciliation process that attacks postal employee retirement benefits on April 30.
These provisions include:
- Increasing the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) contribution rate for existing employees up to 4.4 percent
- Cutting retirement benefits by eliminating the FERS special annuity supplement
- Reducing annuity payments by calculating a retiree’s annuity based on their high-five salary average (instead of three)
The budget reconciliation process allows Republican leaders in Congress to pass these provisions with a simple majority and bypass Democratic opposition. The House is expected to vote on the full reconciliation package by the end of the month. Click here for more information.
TAKE ACTION
Click here to ask your representative to oppose cuts to postal retirement benefits.
