4/29/2025 - Bills NTEU Members are Fighting

May 27, 2025

From the NTEU Bulletin: Bills NTEU Members are Fighting

NTEU members aren’t only fighting the mass layoffs, they’re fighting back against several bills attacking our pay, benefits and workplace rights. Here are just a few harmful bills NTEU is tracking:

The Federal Workforce Freedom Act (S. 1006) would prohibit federal employees from organizing or joining labor unions to collectively bargain. It would also ban federal agencies from negotiating with unions representing federal workers. The bill would terminate all collective bargaining agreements between unions and federal agencies.

The Federal Employee Return to Work Act (H.R. 236 and S. 27) targets teleworkers' pay. Under the bill, teleworking employees would receive the Rest of U.S. locality pay rate, regardless of where they live and if they come into the office the rest of the week, and their base pay rate and locality pay rate will never increase.

NTEU is fighting three bills calling for the relocation of federal employees. The Drain the Swamp Act (H.R. 1460) would require all agencies in Washington, D.C., to relocate their headquarters outside of the metro area. The Drain the Swamp Act (H.R. 1280 and S. 23) would require agencies to move 30 percent of headquarters staff outside of the Washington, D.C. area. The SWAMP Act (H.R. 514 and S. 22) creates a competitive bidding process for the relocation of federal agencies.

The Federal Agency Sunset Commission Act (H.R. 489) establishes a 13-member bipartisan commission to “review the efficiency, necessity, and public need for every federal agency.”

The Reorganizing Government Act of 2025 (H.R. 1295 and S. 583) would allow the president to propose a reorganization of the government with the goal of reducing the number of federal employees and get it fast-tracked through Congress.

End the Deep State Act (H.R. 697) would codify Schedule F—now called Schedule Policy/Career—into law, making it easier to fire thousands of federal employees for any reason.

We all need to work together with our allies to prevent these harmful bills from moving through Congress. Click here to tell your members of Congress to stand with us.

House Committee will Begin Groundwork for Cuts to Pay, Benefits

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will meet to mark up its budget reconciliation legislation on Wednesday. The Committee’s instructions call for $50 billion in spending cuts. To accomplish this, the Committee drafted a legislative proposal that would make several drastic changes to federal employees’ pay, benefits, workplace rights and protections.

This includes cutting pay by increasing FERS contributions, eliminating FERS supplemental retirement payments for anyone who doesn’t have a mandatory retirement age, reducing the FERS benefit basing the calculation off of an employee’s average high-5 years of salary instead of the current high-3, making employees pay more for FERS in exchange for maintaining civil service rights and requiring employees to pay a fee for filing an appeal with the MSPB.

This week’s committee action is the first step in potentially enacting these anti-worker proposals. Together, we need to make our voices heard and keep up the fight. Click here to contact your members of Congress and tell them to oppose these cuts and support federal employees.

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