Today, NALC President Brian L. Renfroe took part in a roundtable on Capitol Hill addressing provisions in the budget reconciliation package that could impact retirement benefits for federal and postal employees.
“Our members are public servants who provide an essential service for every single American household and business,” Renfroe stated. He emphasized the importance of stable jobs with reliable benefits, adding, “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 highlighted that letter carrier retirement benefits and USPS are not funded by taxpayers. “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,” he explained. “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.”
Other union representatives for federal and postal employees were also present at the event.
The roundtable follows the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability’s advancement of a measure on April 30 as part of the budget reconciliation process targeting postal employee retirement benefits.
Proposed changes include increasing the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) contribution rate for current employees up to 4.4 percent, eliminating the FERS special annuity supplement, and reducing annuity payments by basing them on a retiree’s high-five salary average instead of three years.
Republican leaders in Congress can pass these provisions with a simple majority through the budget reconciliation process, bypassing Democratic opposition. The House is expected to vote on the full reconciliation package by month’s end.
