Union takes aim at bills cutting federal benefits, and at their sponsors

A key legislative proposal targeting federal pensions that is due for debate on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks was the most urgent issue for the National Treasury Employees Union at its annual legislative conference -- but the 2012 elections were a close second.

Union officials opened the conference Tuesday by providing an overview of the more than 13 legislative proposals that target federal pay, pensions and the size of the federal workforce. Attendees will spend the rest of the week in meetings on Capitol Hill lobbying for the union.

NTEU Legislative and Political Director Maureen Gilman told attendees that federal pension legislation paired with sweeping transportation and energy legislation earlier this month -- H.R. 3813 -- was the “most important and most timely” because it will come up again soon on the House floor.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., would eliminate the Federal Employees Retirement System annuity supplement and change the annuity calculation for new federal hires from using the average of their three highest salaries to a high-five average pay calculation. It also requires federal workers and members of Congress to contribute a total of 1.5 percent more over three years to their pension, beginning in 2013. Current federal employees would bear a bigger burden under this measure than under a bill signed into law earlier this month, which affects mostly new hires.

The House has split the bill into various sections and dropped some of the more controversial transportation issues, but federal pay and benefits are not “out of the woods at all in terms of being considered an offset,” Gilman said.

The union used the conference not only to urge members to lobby against legislation targeting their pay and benefits, but also to take aim at lawmakers sponsoring that legislation. NTEU President Colleen Kelley urged attendees to support the union’s political action committee, which raises $650,000 per election cycle to support pro-federal employee candidates.

Of the NTEU members in attendance at the legislative conference, 76 percent contribute to the Treasury Employees Political Action Committee.

“We want to change the makeup [of Congress] in November, and that’s one way we can do that,” Kelley said of TPAC.

“In almost every one of those close, competitive seats, there’s going to be a candidate who is much more supportive of federal employees and one who is not,” Gilman said. “We’re going to go where we think we have a chance to win.”

Gilman mentioned that TPAC would look closely at the open Senate seat in Virginia and at Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., among others. She said the group probably would place more emphasis on Senate races than House contests.

The union also briefed members Tuesday on how to discuss its top priorities with lawmakers: federal pay, retirement, workforce reduction proposals, and Customs and Border Protection staffing levels. They provided the following alternatives to legislation targeting federal workers:

• Reform federal contracting: As an alternative to using federal worker pay and benefits in deficit reduction proposals, NTEU proposes reforming federal contracting by requiring federal agencies to cut contract spending and to improve oversight and accountability, which it estimates could save $50 billion over 10 years. The union supports legislation that limits contractor pay, such as a bill that caps salary reimbursement of contract employees at $200,000.

• Prescription drug costs: Reform pharmacy benefits in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program so that the Office of Personnel Management can contract directly for prescription drugs, rather than negotiate costs through pharmacy benefit managers. This recommendation is in line with the FEHBP Prescription Drug Integrity, Transparency and Cost Savings Act, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misrepresented the percentage of NTEU members who contribute to the Treasury Employees Political Action Committee: 76 percent of NTEU members who attended this week’s legislative conference contribute.