Proudly representing most of the fine IRS employees in the state of Indiana
Last Updated 5.14.2012
NTEU MESSAGE TO HIGHWAY BILL CONFEREES -
HANDS OFF OUR RETIREMENT!
A House-Senate conference committee will be meeting to iron out differences in the 2 different versions of the highway funding bill. NTEU National President Colleen Kelley has a clear message for the members of this panel - steer clear of federal employee retirement benefits.
Click here to read more about the letter President Kelley sent to the conferees.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO TAKE MONEY AWAY
FROM YOU - AGAIN!
If the Majority of the members in the House of Representatives gets its way, you will soon be paying more into your retirement accounts with no additional benefits. It's essentially a pay cut. NTEU is outraged at this action. The only good news is the Senate is not likely to go along.
Click here for more from NTEU National President Colleen Kelley on this terrible action in the House of Represenatives
NTEU NATIONAL PRESIDENT COLLEEN KELLEY
APPEARS ON RADIO PROGRAM, WRITES AN OPINION PIECE FOR
POLITICO.COM
NTEU National President Colleen Kelley appeared on Federal News Radio on May 4th. On May 7th, politico.com published an opinion piece by President Kelley on outlandish pay raises for private contractors doing business with the federal government.
Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to listen to the recording of the interview
Click here to read the politico.com piece
APRIL CHAPTER 49 NEWSLETTER RELEASED
The regular Chapter 49 News newsletter is now out.
Click here to read the April edition of our chapter newsletter.
GSA FINALLY INCREASES CAR MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATE
The General Services Administration (GSA) has finally agreed to face the reality of higher gas prices and is increasing the reimbursement rate for use of privately owned vehicles on government assignment. The new rate is 55.5 cents per mile and is effective April 17th. This is a 4.5 cents per mile increase. With many IRS employees using their own vehicles to conduct government business, this will be welcome news for a number of Service workers in Indiana. Be aware that NTEU National President Colleen Kelley has been pressuring GSA to hike this mileage reimbursement rate for months, ever since IRS increased the standard mileage rate used for tax purposes to 55.5 cents per mile.
Click here for more from national NTEU on this action
NTEU REACTS TO LONG WAITS BY THE PUBLIC FOR IRS SERVICE
If you work in toll-free accounts management or a Taxpayer Assistance Center, you know how long the public is waiting for service. You hear from you customers about this all the time. This is due to congress not funding IRS properly. NTEU National President Colleen Kelley has taken notice of this and has issued a news release.
Click here to read the news release.
THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN SET TO BEGIN OFFERING ROTH OPTION ON MAY 7th
On May 7, 2012, TSP will begin accepting Roth TSP contributions from both federal civilian employees and uniformed service members into their retirement accounts. There are differences between Roth contributions and regular contributions. Under Roth, federal employees will pay taxes when the funds go into the TSP, as opposed to the system in place now, where the funds that go into the TSP are not taxed until withdrawn. Roth funds can be withdrawn tax-free after at least five years in the TSP, under the same age requirements as previously mandated. Both options continue to be available.
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the TSP, will provide participants and agencies with materials to help understand this new option and whether it is right for you. You may wish to consult a tax or financial adviser if you are considering putting some or all of your future contributions into a Roth account. Once the program starts, you can designate as much of your contributions as you desire to be Roth contributions. Any contributions already in the TSP will remain in the tax-deferred, original program.
NTEU Chapter 49 President Duncan Giles reminds IRS employees in Indiana that when FERS employees contribute to the regular pre-tax TSP, the government matches your contributions up to 5%. The match is not available for the Roth option
NATIONAL AGREEMENT NEARLY ALL SETTLED
UNION MAKES GAINS FOR YOU
IRS went into talks with NTEU over the National Agreement with the goal of taking away a number of your rights. IRS failed.
Click here for a summary of changes coming in the contract.
REPORT ON THE 2012 NTEU LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE
Delores Kyles and Larry Lannan were the Chapter 49 representatives at the 2012 NTEU Legislative Conference in Washington DC.
Click here to read the report on what Delores and Larry found in DC.
ALTERNATIVE WORK SCHEDULES...
NEW GAINS FOR EMPLOYEES
NTEU has wrapped-up negotiations on Article 23 of the National Agreement, governing hours of work, which includes the Alternative Work Schedule program, one of the most popular gains NTEU has ever negotiated for IRS workers.
The April edition of the Chapter 49 newsletter includes a summary of the new provisions.
Click here to read the AWS agreement language in Article 23.
CUSTOMER SERVICE AGREEMENT APPEARS TO BE DONE!
After many weeks of tough bargaining, NTEU Chapter 49 President Duncan Giles and other chapter presidents from around the nation have reached agreement with IRS management on a new Customer Service Agreement (CSA). NTEU has bargained a number of gains in the working conditions of call center employees.
A summary of the new agreement is included in the April edition of the Chapter 49 newsletter.
Click here for the language in the new agreement.
THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP UNVEILS 2013 BUDGET PROPOSAL
IT TARGETS YOUR JOB AND YOUR PAY
The leadership in the House of Representatives has unveiled its budget proposal and it provides the same attacks on federal employees we've seen from this group in the past. They want to freeze our pay through 2015 and cut the number of federal employees by 10%.
Click here for NTEU's view on all this.
CHAPTER 49 IS NOW ON FACEBOOK!
NTEU Chapter 49 now has it's own Facebook page!
Click here for more details
CONGRESSIONAL VOTING RECORDS
TAKE A CLOSE LOOK
The NTEU Legislative Department is very good at selecting key votes on Capitol Hill and using that to measure how much our elected official are (or are not) supporting the federal work force. The latest voting record tabulation has just been completed. When you review these lists, be aware that a plus sign means the senator or congressman voted with NTEU (and your interests) and a minus sign means the official voted against the NTEU position (and your interests).
Click here to review the voting records
CONGRESSIONAL DEAL CONTAINS BAD NEWS FOR NEW HIRES
Congressional negotiators have reached agreement, and both houses of Congress have passed the conference report extending the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. Here's what it means for us.
First, no current federal employees will be impacted by this measure. At least for now, we will not pay any more into our retirement funds. Be aware it took a last minute deal to accomplish this. Until the very last minute, there were provisions in this conference agreement that would require every federal employee to contribute more into the retirement fund with no increase in retirement benefits. Friends of the federal work force in the Senate and House worked hard to keep us from being hurt.
Second, the people that will be hurt are the federal employees that will follow us. New federal employees will be required to pay an additional 3.1% of their pay into the FERS retirement system with no additional benefits. Not a good provision, but the best deal we could hope for under bad circumstances.
NTEU National President Colleen Kelley asked members of the Senate and House to vote against this conference report. We at Chapter 49 agree with her. But enough votes were rounded-up and the measure did pass.
Here's what angers us. Federal employees have already contributed $60 billion in savings with the 2-year pay freeze. If we don't get the one-half-of-one-per-cent (0.5%) raise the president has proposed for 2013, that figure goes to $90 billion. What angers us is that we are the only ones being told we must contribute to hard economic times. Most federal employees don't object to doing our part. We do object to being the only party being told we must sacrifice.
What can you do? Remind your 2 Senators and member of the House what you think. Have your friends and relatives tell these people what you think. Be careful to follow the rules when doing this, but do it. It's your job and your pay. Only you can make a difference and stop the assault on our pay and benefits.
Click here to contact your elected officials.
Click here for Colleen Kelley's views on passage of the conference report.
THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPOSAL &
WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
The president has revealed his proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 (which begins October 1, 2012). There is good news and bad news for all of us in this spending plan.
First, here’s the bad news. The White House wants to increase the contribution federal employees make to their retirement system by 0.4% each year for the next 3 years. Your contribution to retirement would increase 1.2% total at the end of the 3-year period. This will not increase your retirement benefit at all. What it will do is reduce your take-home pay. In addition, new hires would lose their annuity supplement for those retiring before age 62. These ideas are not as tough on federal employees as the leadership in the House of Representatives has proposed. However, federal employees have already contributed $60 billion toward deficit reduction with the pay freezes already in place. For that reason, we at NTEU are disappointed by these administration proposals.
There is some good news in the president’s proposed FY 2013 budget. Federal employees would at least get some raise, even though it’s only 0.5% (one half of one percent). NTEU is also pleased the White House budget contains a provision to lower prescription drug costs for federal employees and retirees covered by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) by allowing better competition. One last bright spot in this proposal is a continued moratorium on the A-76 program, which reduces the likelihood of your job being outsourced to a private contractor through unfair competition.
There is another bright spot in the president’s budget…..additional funding requests for the IRS. The proposal would increase funding by $940 million for a total spending plan of $12.7 billion. The additional money would go to compliance and taxpayer service programs. The president asked for an increase in the IRS budget for FY 2012, but Congress refused to go along.
The White House budget is just the beginning of the budget process, but it’s an important beginning because it starts the discussion of the nation’s spending priorities. NTEU Chapter 49 will watch these issues very carefully and keep you informed of what is happening as the process unfolds.
HOUSE VOTES FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PAY FREEZE TO 2013
The House of Representatives has voted 309-117 to freeze congressional and federal employee pay another year through 2013. A 2/3 majority was required under a rule suspension and more than 2/3 of the House members voted for this measure. It is not likely to get anywhere in the Senate. Many Washington journalists have written that this vote is a signal to a House-Senate conference committee (which is meeting now) to include pay freezes for federal employees and congress in any agreement to fund the extension of the payroll tax holiday through the end of 2012. Even though NTEU does not expect this measure to advance to the Senate, the Conference Committee that must decide whether a pay freeze will be a part of a final bill to extend the payroll tax holiday is moving toward final action no later than the end of February. NTEU will continue to press the Conference Committee to drop any provisions harmful to federal employees in the final version of the legislation.
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