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NTEU e-Bulletin
NTEU e-Bulletin
NTEU Commemorates Memorial Day
Ahead of Memorial Day on Monday, NTEU joins the nation in remembering and honoring the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Download our flier
Fight Efforts to Politicize Your Job! Submit Comments by Friday
Help us fight back! Submit comments to OPM telling the agency why a nonpartisan, merit-based civil service is essential to providing services to the American public. The deadline for submitting comments is this Friday, May 23 at 11:59 p.m.
The Trump administration is once again trying to shift large numbers of employees into a new category the Administration believes will make them at-will and more easily fired. This new category, in the Administration's view, will be unprotected from terminations for partisan reasons.
Currently, regulations ban efforts to replace federal employees with political loyalists. The administration is proposing to take away these protective regulations.
Federal employees can submit comments to OPM in their personal capacity, by name or anonymously. The process is easy, and we recommend you take this opportunity to speak directly to the administration and voice your objections.
The Federal Unionists Network (FUN) compiled a resource on how to craft an effective comment. The tip sheet includes FAQs, a list of the most effective arguments, example comments and helpful prompts for ChatGPT.
Submit your comments to OPM today!
Our Fight Against Retirement Cuts Pays Off
After hearing complaints from federal employees, unions and retirees, a House committee has scaled back some of the most harmful retirement cuts up for consideration.
First, the bill no longer includes an increase in FERS premiums for people who were hired before 2014, a change that could have resulted in a significant pay cut for many federal employees.
Second, it would delay a cut in retirement benefits to 2028, giving NTEU and our allies more time to try and keep annuities based on the average of employees’ highest three years of pay instead of five years.
Third, it allows law enforcement officers who are subject to mandatory retirement before they are eligible to receive Social Security to continue receiving the FERS supplemental.
These changes are a significant improvement and a testament to the power of federal employees raising their voices and letting Congress know their objections.
However, the package of retirement reforms still includes some harmful cuts that our union will continue to fight, such as eliminating the FERS supplemental for employees who are not in law enforcement, making new federal employees pay more toward their retirement in exchange for maintaining their civil service rights, and requiring employees to pay a fee for filing an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. These changes are, in essence, a pay cut. Keep making your voices heard! We must keep the pressure on to prevent them and preserve our rights.
NTEU Joins Allies to Coordinate Fight Against Attacks on Pay, Benefits
Last week, NTEU joined 15 other unions, employee groups and good government advocates for a roundtable discussion hosted by Reps. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Ma.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to coordinate action against the Republican's budget reconciliation package. The bill includes drastic cuts to federal employees’ pay and benefits.
National President Doreen Greenwald sent a letter objecting to the reconciliation package ahead of the vote last month.
“Cutting their take-home pay and shrinking their retirement benefits threatens the retirement they have earned and undercuts the ability of agencies to recruit and hire the next generation of talent needed to serve the American people," Greenwald said.
This bill could be considered on the House floor this week. Click here to write your Representative now and urge them to oppose these cuts.
Our Union Voices Drive Media Coverage
Don’t ever doubt that your courage to speak against cuts to the federal workforce is having an impact. Across the media spectrum, NTEU leaders and members are giving authoritative, first-hand accounts of the damage being done to government services, agency missions and public service, and the American people are responding.
Does one single news story change the world? Of course not. But, through your efforts, NTEU has helped create a constant drumbeat of coverage with dozens of news stories favorable to our causes. Such bravery is inspiring others to stand up and defend federal employees and demand protection of vital federal programs and agencies.
In the first three months of the year alone, NTEU voices were featured in more than 500 stories in mainstream print and broadcast media outlets, not including thousands of syndicated articles by other outlets. Your voices are in newspapers, on the airwaves, on digital-only news sites and in trade publications focusing on news from specific industries such as tax policy or federal law, with a combined audience reach of hundreds of millions of readers.
Sharing our message with professional reporters at reputable publications also has a direct correlation to social media, where their journalism is the source of widespread commentary, having an exponential effect on how far and wide our message travels.
We share the links to some of those stories in our media center, and thank you for your contributions toward telling the stories of the federal workforce.
Greenwald Addresses Woman's National Democratic Club
National President Doreen Greenwald last week joined Woman’s National Democratic Club President Eleanor LeCain for an evening in the nation’s capital to discuss the current attacks facing civil servants.
Taking the stage graced by the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Wright Edelman, Betty Friedan, and former President Jimmy Carter, Greenwald participated in a Q&A with LeCain educating attendees about the vital services federal employees perform and NTEU’s efforts to save jobs and preserve our members’ collective bargaining rights.
NTEU in the News: Clip of the Week
How do you document the harm from brain drain? The Washington Post provided the most definitive account yet of what happens when federal agencies lose their most senior, experienced employees. The headline says it all: Trump’s actions are pushing thousands of experts to flee government.
New Webinar! What to Know About Congress’s 2025 Budget Proposal
United Benefits is hosting a webinar on Thursday, May 22 exclusively for NTEU members. The webinar will cover Congress’s 2025 budget proposal and provide a clear understanding of what's on the table and what you can do right now to protect your future.
The webinar is being offered at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. (EDT). Register today.
Happening at NTEU
Traveling soon? Through your NTEU Avis Car Rental Savings Program, you can save up to 25 percent off base rates on your rental—through May 22.
Looking for ways to get involved? Visit the We are Essential Action Calendar.
Stay safe! Social media platforms like Reddit and Substack can often have misleading or even false information. Always trust the news that comes directly from NTEU.