NATCA Bookshelf

NIW Today | 46 ANTI-FEDERAL EMPLOYEE ATTACKS ATTACKS ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PAY AND BENEFITS Over the past three years, the Administration outlined attacks on federal employees' pay and benefits as part of its budget proposal. Prior Congresses have passed some of these policy proposals as part of the annual Congressional budget resolution. Although budget resolutions do not have the force of law, they lay the groundwork for the appropriations committees to allocate government funding. For instance, the proposed House FY 2018 budget resolution contained the elimination of the Social Security annuity supplement, which air traffic controllers receive, as an example of reforms to civil service pensions. Ultimately, elimination of the Social Security annuity supplement was not included in the final Congressional budget. However, the Administration has been firm in its desire to eliminate the annuity supplement and has included it again in the FY 2020 budget proposal. Many of these anti-federal employee legislative proposals would attack the retirement benefits of NATCA members. At a time when the FAA faces a staffing crisis with nearly 19% of all CPCs eligible to retire immediately, any reduction in retirement benefits, especially the elimination of the Social Security annuity supplement, will cause air traffic controllers to retire earlier than expected. This large wave of unanticipated retirements could cripple the NAS by exacerbating the current staffing crisis. Most recently, the President's FY 2020 budget proposal included each of the following attacks on federal employee wage and benefits, as well as attacks on labor unions in general: Retirement Benefits: • Proposal to increase federal employee contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to be phased in over several years, with individuals contributing an additional one percent of their salary each year until those payments reach 50% of the cost. • Proposal to eliminate FERS cost of living adjustment (COLA), and also to reduce civil service retirement system (CSRS) COLA by 0.5%. • Proposal to eliminate the Social Security annuity supplement, which would negatively affect air traffic controllers who are subject to mandatory retirement at age 56, before reaching Social Security age. It will similarly negatively affect federal law enforcement and firefighters, who are also subject to mandatory retirement. • Proposal to change retirement annuity calculation from high-3 years to high-5 years. • Proposal to reduce the Thrift Saving Plan (TSP) G-Fund interest rate. Federal Employee Health Benefits: • This proposal would revise the government contribution rate to between 65% to 75% depending on a plan's performance. Leave: • Currently, all Federal employees receive 10 paid holidays and up to 13 sick days annually, as well as between 13 to 26 vacation days, depending on federal government tenure. This budget proposal would transition the existing civilian leave system to paid time off (PTO), which lumps all time off (sick and vacation) under one category in an attempt to reduce the total number of leave days. Pay Freeze: • Proposal to institute a pay freeze for Federal civilian employees for FY 2020. CONTINUED

• Cover