4/8/11: “More than 800,000 federal employees are facing an impending and open-ended furlough with no assurance they would be paid for the forced time off when it ends,” said NTEU National President Colleen Kelley. “Now, reportedly, some members of Congress are proposing an additional $1.3 billion in pay cuts for rank-and-file federal employees as part of a budget deal on 2011 spending. 

“Federal employees are already facing a two-year pay freeze and loss of pay during the shutdown,” said President Kelley. “Meanwhile, members of Congress will be paid even if the government shuts down.”  

NTEU is adamantly opposed to cuts in federal pay as part of ongoing negotiations over the federal budget, the leader of the Union said today. “To add the idea that federal employee pay would be cut further is a gross injustice to them and to their service to our nation.

“Federal employees already have been unfairly targeted in multiple ways, from a two-year pay freeze to impending loss of pay from a shutdown,” said President Kelley.

The NTEU leader was reacting to a report in today’s Washington Post that budget negotiators are considering such actions impacting federal workers as part of their efforts to avert a government shutdown at midnight tonight.

She noted that with NTEU’s support, a bipartisan majority in the House recently defeated an amendment by Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) this year aimed at further pay cuts for federal employees, and Kelley promised an aggressive effort to prevent the pay of federal employees from being cut in this or any other manner.

Yesterday, the NTEU leader sent a letter to every member of Congress urging them to ensure that furlough federal employees would receive retroactive pay.