Labor Chief Faces Challenges as Advocate for Federal Workers

An Article from The Hill:

As president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Kelley has had a hand in every major deficit negotiation of the last year. She has tangled with the Tea Party and gone up against GOP standard-bearers Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.). She represents everyone’s favorite: the tax collectors.

Her job has never been tougher.

“This is the worst political climate for federal workers in decades,” Kelley told The Hill in an interview at her H Street headquarters. “You see these current attacks, they’re nonstop. Literally everyday there’s a new one aimed at federal employees.”

Kelley is now tracking two dozen bills in Congress aimed at reducing worker pay and benefits, the highest she has seen since joining NTEU in the 1970s as a worker at the IRS.

House Republicans have proposed five-year pay freezes, 5 percent increases in employee contributions to retirement plans and the requirement that two workers leave before one is hired. They have argued that federal worker pay is too generous and guaranteed pensions unaffordable, given a $16 trillion national debt. 

Half of Kelley’s time is spent traveling the country, comforting frightened members of her union, most of whom work outside the Beltway. Fear was especially high last year when the government almost shut down due to a budget battle and workers worried they would lose pay. 

“It is very hard for them to understand why these attacks keep coming. They know they work hard; they are proud of what they do; they are dedicated,” she said.

Kelley is passionate when talking about the contribution that people can make when choosing to work for the government. She still thinks young people should go into the bureaucracy to “make a difference.” 

Kelley’s office is filled with Sept. 11 memorials given to her by members working for the Department of Homeland Security. 

“I think a lot of federal employees do their work under the radar. The country depends on them to do it without a lot of fanfare. They just expect them to do it,” she said. 

“A lot of this hostile legislation very often comes from those who don’t respect federal employees and what they do. They just want less federal employees and they want to turn that work over to contractors at a much higher price,” she said.