Don’t Cut A Raw Deal, Mr. Vice President

Changes no federal workers could believe in

Our brothers and sisters who are federal employees are being attacked with an intensity that parallels what’s been going on at the state level. The House has already voted to eliminate collective bargaining rights for airport screeners, cut 200,000 jobs, and freeze pay for five years. And the vital services that our families rely on are being cut beyond the bone – from OSHA and MSHA to labor law enforcement, food inspection, education, community safety, and other services that keep our communities safe and secure.

Perhaps the biggest threat and fight is happening at the White House where Vice President Biden is negotiating a deal on the debt ceiling with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Sources have told the federal-employees' union, AFGE, that there is tentative agreement on significantly increasing what federal employees pay for their pensions – essentially what amounts to a 6% pay cut per pay period.

Negotiators won’t tax the rich and big corporations but they will cut the pay of workers. That’s a “Raw Deal” any way you cut it.

You can help fight back by signing the petition to Vice President Biden. Urge him to focus on creating good jobs and making the rich pay their fair share not cutting the pay of the workers who didn’t create the deficit and shouldn’t be the cure.

Show solidarity with federal workers! Click here to sign the petition: http://salsa.afge.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2281.

Dear Mr. Vice President,

These aren’t the changes we expected.

• Cutting the pensions of VA nurses, border patrol agents, food inspectors, corrections officers, civilian defense employees and other federal workers…
• Huge cuts in the vital programs that Americans rely on to keep our families and communities safe and secure…
• Continued tax cuts for the very rich, big oil and big banks while freezing the pay of federal workers…
• Undermining retirement security by cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Mr. Vice President, America’s workers and retirees didn’t create the deficit and they should not be the cure.

It’s time to focus on creating good jobs and making the rich and big corporations pay their fair share.

That’s the way to drive down the deficit.

That’s a square deal. That’s the change we expected.