Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today promised a continued fight to turn back legislative efforts that would result in unwarranted and serious cuts to federal workers’ compensation insurance payments.
President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) expressed her disappointment at yesterday’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approval of a bill that would reduce such benefits to injured federal employees by as much as one-third. The committee marked up S. 1486, postal reform legislation, containing the proposed government-wide changes to the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA). An NTEU-supported amendment, offered by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), would have eliminated the section in the bill significantly undercutting FECA, but it failed by a single vote.
Kelley said NTEU will continue to work with Sen. Tester and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) in the House on potential legislation there. “We need to ensure that provisions harmful to federal workers injured on the job are not adopted,” she said.
Prior to the Senate committee markup, the NTEU leader sent a letter supporting the Tester effort. “The Tester amendment corrects the controversial and harmful proposal in the bill to cut insurance benefits for workers injured on the job who are older or who have family obligations,” Kelley wrote.
She added: “These benefit cuts would impose a substantial and unfair income reduction on federal employees who simply came to work one day ready to serve their country, but tragically suffered an injury that took away their ability to ever work again.”
Moreover, the NTEU leader noted that a Government Accountability Office study in 2013 offered further proof that age-based cuts in FECA payments would be particularly harmful to lower wage workers and those injured early in their working lives.
For injured federal workers with dependents, FECA provides a modest additional payment “so former family breadwinners can still provide some material support” for their families, Kelley reminded senators.
NTEU has been an advocate for various improvements in FECA, but has been steadfast in its opposition to insurance benefit cuts for workers injured in the service of their country.
As the nation’s largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments
Diamondstein and the APWU will chime in on this if it means a photo op and a chance to pontificate for all his lemmings. Meanwhile…he waits for USPS to create all those Staples jobs into actual window jobs at the PO. Poor guy!
@Big R,
Well said. I know about the Insider Trading travesty. Pathetic indeed, but we go to jail if we profit, or even work it.
I hope you have written some type of letter to your local and national Congressmen.
It took me about an hour to send all of mine to my politicians that represent me, and then to the other key states offices.. What you have been reading on my views,
and they have been getting plenty of follow-up emails too. Not just one and I forget my desires to keep at this horrendous bill. You have to keep sending them, even if it the same email/letter. I have always fought for what I sincerely believe in. So many here are talkers, not doer’s, but they will be the first one’s to cry to mommy when they have to drastically change the way of living. So many here, THAT IS CORRECT, so many here let the other do there work, there letter/email sending, but not me. Keep sending those letters.
Susan, you are so right these “fat cats” certainly take care of themselves extremely well with most being millionaires. It is inhumane to even suggest this in the bill as a contributing factor in reducing the financial burden of the Postal Service. We need
more people to take an interest in what is going on in this country
without thinking eveything our representatives do has legitimacy.
As you mentioned the staggering amount of money allocated for other
bills watefully used is jaw dropping. Most of the burden put on the Postal Service was created by the Bush Administration signing into
law the PAEA which mandated the service to pay 5.6 billion dollars a year for future retiree health benefits. Now, cowardly they want to hurt the employee’s and their families by cutting back pay and benefits that were hard earned through the years of service. Alot was sacrificed with many employee’s having to work holiday’s and night shifts, not seeing their loved one’s as much as they would have liked. This is also a form of union busting which is another dangerous bridge we cross not only for current workers but for future workers. This bill has other compromising details in it’s presentation which hopefully a common sense approach will defeat.
This country has got to stay vigilant with what our “law makers” are doing or not doing. They have certainly changed them in their own favor with free health insurance, education for their kids, pay raises, even though this has been touted as the worst congress in recent history for accomplishing agenda’s set forth. They also were allowed to participate in “insider trading” until Scott Brown ended that with a bill that they had to pass!!! All the handouts and other little deals you will never know about leaves one skeptical at best. They created this mess don’t let them take what’s rightfully yours……. have a voice!
@torn rotator….
How about since you are off (this should not matter), write or send your Congressman that this will be devastating to the injured Federal employee’s currently on workers comp, and the future employee’s that will be suffering this baseless change, @ torn, more people have to make these (some of the evil people) elected office holders very aware of the potential consequences this devastating pending/current bill will be and what it will cause for the actual employee, but also for the families of the injured employee. Please do not be one of those millions who just sit by and let the others do the letter writing and the ones that send these Congressmen the letters of there concerns. You must start notifying these people. Otherwise, you and I say all these other employee’s may just find yourself in a very depressing situation, where one does not where to live, because this bill will force you to have to move to a new location (most likely if you are single, but still the chances that you will lose many personal and life long, and hard earned possessions one has acquired in life) and this being because you can no longer afford your home mortgage payments, your property taxes, your auto payment, etc. I will have to move to some very, very small town, away from my good doctors, away from a decent grocery store, a place where you have to worry about the electric going out, etc. And most likely, a much older home/apartment where it is considered dangerous to live, because of the poverty factor, This is what I am so concerned about. Then, you have to move away from your friends and family. All because some Legislators came up with an idea to cut some of the pork from OWCP. And because so many feel we injured have it so good, while we are at home, just having a great time of it. Partially to blame is the fakers.
But I also have to add, if our govt would have told us about this, (not me, I have been totally disabled for more than 12 years, but it still screws me), the newer employees should have been notified of the proposed coming changes, thus allowing everyone in the Federal workforce to be able to look into purchasing private disability insurance. But this didn’t happen, and we are so screwed, all of us, and also the people that will get hurt, and also to the naysayers that have the audacity to actually think everyone is faking there injuries. Yes, some actually will say this to your face.
Please take the time to call, write, email your feelings on this, and it’s affects on all people that this extremely devastating pending bill will have on the workers that have worked very hard at there jobs. This goes beyond that old saying, This is not fair”.
So everyone, please send the message today….It can happen to you today, tomorrow, next month, and you will be very sorry that you didn’t think it was worth your time in protesting this evil bill. This bill is S.1486……
Again, thank you everyone. SEND the WORD…( it only will take a short amount of your time).
First I’ve heard of this! Should I be filing for permanent disability for a torn rotator (on the job injury)? Guess this is another creative way to force postal workers out!!!
You wonder where they were before the committee vote was taken.
All of us injured, want to say thank you to Sen. Tester, and Rep. Miller for there continuing support to stop this catastrophic pending language in this bill. This simply has to be changed. As I have stated more times than I can remember, there re so many other directions and various means to save the Federal govt. money in the Postal Bill. Ans as I have stated so many times (i sent Carper a very long and detailed email last week as to what this bill actually will do the the injured employees and that he should actually take some time and speak with us injured, we’re not freeloading, nor getting rich) if you want to see how serious our Senators and our Representative’s are committed to reducing our deficit, one has to look no farther than this PORK filled Farm bill that just past last weekend. I am talking about a crime of the worse sort. In this $990 billion Farm bill, that if you were to read the particulars of this bill, you will see the horrific waste of our nations dollars, and where most state’s will reap huge amounts of millions, that do not need to be spent, and could be better spent on other area’s. The people of this country rarely speaks out on the outrages of our Congressman’s wants, (not needs). They steal blindly from our country’s revenue, which is the people of the USA. And it appears no one speaks out or questions them. So they mostly continue and go about business, but when it comes to taking care of our sick and injured, it is wait a minute, lets go after the people (they won’t say a word), they can afford a huge cut from almost 67% of there wages, and lets reduce it down to 50%. They will not notice, and we the Congressmen, will slip it past them, and after it is all signed and passed, we can tell them, well, we tried to change the language, but nobody spoke out, so we the Congressman, went along with cutting your benefits. Once again, because nobody told us it would have that huge of an impact on the worker..These Congressmen, simply do not care about reducing our debt. Not with passing legislation on bills that spends our hard earned tax revenue on that ridiculous one’s such as this Farm Bill (an example). I mean really Congressmen !, you pass to pass bill into law, but screw the workers of this country. We as a nation, our policy makers-aka-Congress, treat the injured as criminals, as anyone who has been hurt, will attest to. This is so sad, and not necessary. FACT: our country by far, treats it’s honestly injured workers monetarily, and humanly, very severe when compared to most other 1rst and 2nd world industrialized country’s. Find your cost saving somewhere else, and not on the backs of us hurt employee’s. Please do the right thing and change this current language in S.1486.
Sincerely,
Susan Haymer.
All Post Office employee’s, please, whether you are or are not hurt,
email or call your Senators and Representative’s, it only will take a few moment
of your time. Especially the workers that are getting older, it is worth the effort,
because you all know how tough your job can be on an aging body. Sad that most will not,
and simply you think you will never be hurt. But it happens people, it happens.
I feel sorry for the true ignorant who think everyone fakes their injuries. I personally
would rather burn in Hell, than to go through this faking it, just to get some time off of work. Please take the time after work, and email these guy’s, your Congressmen..THANKS..