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Federal Workers to Congress: Leave Us Out of Deficit Deal
The National Journal ^ | November 20th, 2012 | Eric Katz

Posted on 11/20/2012 11:25:03 PM PST by Abiotic

The Federal-Postal Coalition -- a group representing more than two dozen federal employee unions -- pleaded with Congress on Monday to spare their members in any deal related to the "fiscal cliff."

Federal workers, the coalition wrote in a letter, have contributed more than their fair share toward reducing the debt and are the only group that has been targeted so heavily.

“Federal and postal employees and their families are hardworking, middle-class Americans who are struggling during these tough times just like other Americans,” the group wrote. “No other group has been asked to financially contribute the way they have, and it is time our nation’s leaders found other ways to reduce the deficit than continually taking from those who have dedicated their lives to public service.”

According to the coalition, federal employees have funded $60 billion in budget savings in 2011 and 2012 as a result of their ongoing pay freeze and an additional $28 billion in savings will be derived from the freeze extension through March 2013.

Federal workers also contributed $15 billion toward the budget in 2011 when the contribution rate toward retirement pensions was raised to 2.3 percent for new employees.

Top Democratic lawmakers on committees related to the federal workforce told Government Executive last week that they would like to leave federal-employee benefits out of any potential debt deal. After President Obama’s reelection, top federal unions said they were confident their members would not be targeted in such a deal and a pay raise would be instituted.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: federalworkers; fiscalcliff; postalunion; postoffice; union
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To: dinodino
“all Federal workers get painted with the same brush”

Yep, i guess that was my point all along, that happens alot on FR, it's always kinda bugged me and I've never mentioned my career status before today. As for me I am in the DoD supporting the navy Warfighter and trust me the American taxpayer is getting their $$ worth. As for my bennies, I have blue cross federal, your right i dont know exactly but i cant imagine my ins. is that much better than anyone elses. As far as leave, we do get compensated pretty well but when I retire I cannot sell back much of it. As I said I am on a 3rd year pay freeze no COLA, no bonus of any kind, I'm not complaining but if anybody thinks I'm spending three weeks a year in the Caribbean their wrong, i dont work in the GSA.lol. As for being a good person, I hope so, I am as Conservative a person as I know how to be if that means anything and I hope it does.

41 posted on 11/21/2012 6:09:53 AM PST by V_TWIN (obama=where there's smoke, there's mirrors)
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To: Abiotic

Hmmmm....I wonder why some of the wealthiest countries in the USA are surrounding WDC?


42 posted on 11/21/2012 6:10:26 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: USAF80

Depends.

Most don’t, beyond SS and sales tax. But I do know a few who are on EBT that are farmers and pay quite a bit in land taxes.

They are scamming the system, and I don’t have a lot of respect for them.


43 posted on 11/21/2012 6:20:25 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: V_TWIN

That is fairly close to what I make as an engineer (in the Midwest, so I suspect my cost of living is cheaper than yours).

We haven’t had a pay freeze in a while, but I have taken pay cuts in the past. It is part of the game, and not a fun part either.

But I am fairly confident the benefits you have are a lot better than mine. I suspect you have a pension, and I have never had that option (my wife does also, but we are planning on Illinois to go bankrupt long before she sees a dime). And the health care for government workers is usually better, though that depends.

My point is that when the hard times hit, all need to be on the chopping block. I have been through it in two companies, and it is never easy. Once I left right before the ax fell on my position (thanks to a good manager who told me what was happening six months in advance).


44 posted on 11/21/2012 6:20:26 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: dinodino
The Postal Service loses money every year. They should be privatized. Amtrak is a bad joke on the taxpayers. All taxpayers have to subsidize riders in one quarter of the country that don't have other transportation but criticize those of us that commute to work in our own automobiles so we can earn money and pay taxes for them to ride Amtrak.
45 posted on 11/21/2012 6:21:07 AM PST by River_Wrangler (Nothing difficult is ever easy!)
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To: trebb

Thank you for making the effort.

Out of all the federal workers I know personally (including my husband), only one is a loon as far as politics goes. The loon amongst them always votes for the weirdest third-party candidate there is and won’t vote for dems.

The rest of them vote for the closest thing to conservatives they can find — every election — and they refuse to join the union. The unions have lost many members over the last decade or so, and their crime bosses are desperately in search of other businesses to target, since they can no longer depend on federal employees to be loyal to them.


46 posted on 11/21/2012 6:24:08 AM PST by Heart of Georgia
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To: napscoordinator

That’s easy to say now that the feds have almost destroyed the private sector and pay their special worker bees with money stolen from others.

Who knew they would flood the country with 40 million government dependents and make a lifestyle out of handouts?

I voted for smaller gov all my life and was niave enough at one point to believe it. I even believed that takers would never outnumber the makers without a collapse. But you make a good point, we were all dummies for not getting on the freebie bandwagon a long time ago.


47 posted on 11/21/2012 6:25:08 AM PST by winodog (Thank you Jesus for the calm in my life)
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To: Abiotic
'Federal Workers to Congress: Leave Us Out of Deficit Deal'
'Federal workers' is an oxymoron. 99.986524% of them aren't worth a crap. I saw that in person when I was on site for 18 months in a Gubmint bldg we were doing HVAC mechanical upgrades on (back during Klintoon's years and *his* gubmint shutdown).

The remaining .013476% of Fed workers are those like our Mail Man who not only is a "worker" but cares about the job he does. He'll actually get out of his truck and deliver to our door anything that's large and could possibly get damaged, ruined, or bent, if he put it in our mailbox as his 'job description' requires.

We also try to tip him at Christmas if we have an extra $20 laying around. But under Barry that's getting harder to do.

48 posted on 11/21/2012 6:30:40 AM PST by Condor51 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: redgolum
The reason I am with the fed gov is I was laid off from my last place of employment in private sector aerospace, so I know how that feels. as far as cost of living, i am in NE Fla. So it's not as bad as say south Fla.

As far as being on the chopping block, the fed gov does need downsizing, but with what we have in the Whitehouse I don't see that happening any time soon. I am proud and privileged to work for the American taxpayer supporting the US navy warfighter, there are many areas of fed gov that need cutting but (this may sound a little selfish) not where I work. What we do where I work is directly related to the freedom of this country, at least whatever the Whitehouse will allow.

V_TWIN

49 posted on 11/21/2012 6:36:00 AM PST by V_TWIN (obama=where there's smoke, there's mirrors)
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To: V_TWIN
Not to be intentionally rude, but really. . .”I’m afraid i cant provide details about what I do as i’m in the DOD”

Many of us here served a career in the military. We know the DOD. We know who does what, where and how well. We also know GS scales.

We spent an entire career serving this great nation while at the same time fighting career bureaucrats (GS) as they went about their business of finding reasons they can't do something.

The worst GS examples of this approach are found in DC, to be sure.

At any rate, bottom line, saying you are in the DOD and can't talk about what you do is not really accurate. Every DOD organization and job, with very rare and limited exceptions, even those in the “black” part of the budget, has an unclassified description—how about yours?

50 posted on 11/21/2012 6:55:28 AM PST by Hulka
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To: Abiotic

Cross the board 10%, every dept., every agency.


51 posted on 11/21/2012 6:59:48 AM PST by servantboy777
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To: V_TWIN

Afraid I just lost any sympathy for you, after taking a look at BC Federal plan benefits. You have better and cheaper health insurance than I’ve ever had. Furthermore, I’ll be you get a pension, which is pretty much unheard of in the private sector. As for going without raises, join the club! Many of us running businesses have had to take pay cuts or go without pay.


52 posted on 11/21/2012 7:16:23 AM PST by dinodino
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To: V_TWIN
I understand.

We need to have some people do the things in the Fedgov that need doing. The danger is that everyone thinks that their little area is the most important (and from what you alluded to, yours is).

But at some point the costs get to great. We are starting to field mercenaries. That is not a good sign for the fiscal health of the state.

53 posted on 11/21/2012 7:18:44 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Hulka
Your not being rude at all. First I'd like to thank you for your service to your country, it is appreciated. A lot of folks I work with are ex military and I am proud to work with them. When I say I cannot discuss what I do I don't mean I am some black ops cloak and dagger type. If thats the way I portrayed it I apologize, nothing could be further from the truth. james bond 007 I ain't or do I pretend to be.lol. What I meant was we are trained and warned not to make public (like on the internet) a lot of personal info details or about what we do for the fed gov. It may sound dramatic but I'm just stating what we are told and how we are instructed/trained. We receive continuous training on this subject so it gets kind of drummed in. As for being an unclassified description, of course it is but that doesn't mean I can or should provide a lot of detail about it. Yes I am a “run of the mill” worker bee GS rate but as you probably know there are many different gov rates. I spent many years as a WG. I think GS just happens to be what most people have heard of.
Anyway I hope I cleared up any misconception about what I was trying to say....... I'm proud and to work for the American taxpayer, it is my honor and privilege. I would just like people to know we're not all sluggo parasites sucking the US dry.

Regards, V_TWIN

54 posted on 11/21/2012 7:34:50 AM PST by V_TWIN (obama=where there's smoke, there's mirrors)
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To: johnthebaptistmoore
A civil war between The Right and The Left. That’s, probably, where we are all heading towards.

You say that likes it's a bad thing.

55 posted on 11/21/2012 7:41:47 AM PST by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: dinodino

Maybe this will get some sympathy back, I do not have a pension unless you consider a TSP (goverment 401K) a pension. Fed gov used to do pensions but that has been a thing of the past for quite some time. I put $ in, the fed gov does match a certain amount of that but don’t most 401ks do that? (and yes I understand where the matching comes from.)

As far as ins. goes I’ll take your word for that, Ive never done a comparison. Like I said, maybe pay freezes for us are the correct thing, I’m not complaining. Considering the current economic climate in the US, I know anyone who is gainfully employed nowadays is fortunate.


56 posted on 11/21/2012 7:45:31 AM PST by V_TWIN (obama=where there's smoke, there's mirrors)
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To: trebb

I’m not being snarky (much), I really am trying to recall a story from last year about federal employees owing a very large amount of unpaid taxes. That’s what struck me as amusing about the way the article was written, I have an appreciation for irony.


57 posted on 11/21/2012 7:50:14 AM PST by thescourged1
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To: Heart of Georgia
Thanks for the response. Most of my civilian co-workers are conscientious and diligent with solid work ethics. One is a hard-core lib and I have been chiding him lately due to his efforts to discipline a civilian who is part of the union. My co-worker was a union rep before a promotion took him out of the union dealings and now the union is causing him no small amount of headaches trying to protect a guy who needs to be gone. He still voted for Zero and cannot seem to understand why I despise the Left so much.

Most of the government workers that cause so many problems are in the various Washington-connected agencies and they give us all a bad name. Most of my co-workers spent 20 or more years of honorable military service and it was a a natural move to go back to the same base they retired from to fill a civilian slot - they get to leverage their military experience when it comes to training new recruits and over the last 4 years, it was either fill a civilian vacancy or go on unemployment - not much choice there. I spent 24 years in the AF and my 13 years as a DOD civilian makes 37 years in/around the military and the folks I love so much.

Not all the civilians are like my co-worker; he can't convince me so he goes to other. I overheard him asking a young civilian what he thought it meant that Obama got so much of the vote - the young man looked at him and said, "Because so many people are stupid?" It was a good moment to see the look on his face.

58 posted on 11/21/2012 8:06:40 AM PST by trebb (Allies no longer trust us. Enemies no longer fear us.)
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To: thescourged1

I understand - those you talk about do exist and they are generally administration-connected bureaucrats vs. mush of the civilian workforce that supplements the various bases. Most of the folks like me have spent 20 or more years in uniform and many of us are in the training area teaching new recruits their basic career field courses. We are mainly patriots who love the country and the military and the job is looked at much like any private-sector person looks at his job. Working around the military and the military in uniform we came to love is a lagniappe. We also understand that even though our pay comes from tax dollars, we pay taxes the same as everyone else and we hate to see them wasted. I understand and agree that we shouldn’t be getting special favors and I understand and accept that even my pay is on the table in these times. Like anyone else, we have lost much spending power (although we are grateful for our jobs) during the Obama melt-down and like anyone else, we are human and selfish enough to hope for raises vs. cuts, but many of us are willing to share in the pain if the idiots in the Congress will actually stop flushing America’s future down the toilet. God Bless


59 posted on 11/21/2012 8:21:42 AM PST by trebb (Allies no longer trust us. Enemies no longer fear us.)
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To: Abiotic
The Federal-Postal Coalition -- a group representing more than two dozen federal employee unions -- pleaded with Congress on Monday to spare their members in any deal related to the "fiscal cliff."

Fine, then they can have a substantial layoff instead.

60 posted on 11/21/2012 8:39:48 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The Slave Party: advancing indenture since 1787.)
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