Press Release Archives

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• Jan 22, 2018 House and Senate Vote to Reopen Government Washington, D.C. – Today, in a scramble to find an agreement to reopen U.S. government offices around the world, Congressional leaders in both chambers from both parties voted on a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through February 8.  The president is expected...    more...
• Dec 21, 2017 NFFE Firefighters Fight Thomas Over Holidays “We have firefighters serving on the front lines and we have personnel providing critical operations support through Unified Command,” said Mike Rivera, vice president of NFFE Local 2023 at Los Padres National Forest. “Most of our people will spend the holidays right here on the fire line,...    more...
• Dec 1, 2017 Warning: Two Year Probation Bill Could Destroy Executive Branch Accountability Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4182, the “Ensuring a Qualified Civil Service Act of 2017,” which, if passed into law, allows extended probationary periods of two years or more for new federal employees. While under probationary employment, an employee can be terminated...    more...
• Oct 3, 2017 Time Running Out to Save Job Corps Centers “Now is the time to act to convince Job Corps to keep the Golconda center open and stop future closures,” Erwin continued. “We encourage everyone who values job training and opportunities for America’s most vulnerable youth to take a stand today.    more...
• Sep 19, 2017 NFFE, America’s First Federal Employee Union, Celebrates 100 Years Fighting for Federal Employees This week, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), America’s first civil service federal employee union, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. NFFE was founded on September 17, 1917.    more...
• Aug 17, 2017 NFFE Concerned About Anti-Union Impasses Panel Recently, the Federal Labor Relations Authority released the names of newly appointed panelists to the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), nominated by President Donald Trump. According to the professional biographies released by the agency, the new panelists appear to embrace a common...    more...
• Jul 21, 2017 NFFE Promotes Federal Pension Fairness Act to Help Feds, and State and Local Economies The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) applauds the introduction of the Federal Employee Pension Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R. 3269) in the U.S. House of Representatives. If passed, this law will help to reverse some of the damage done to workers in recent years by decreasing the...    more...
• Jun 22, 2017 NFFE Strongly Opposes the Dangerous and Profiteering AIRR Act that Would Privatize Air Traffic Control and Air Travel Safety Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) strongly opposes the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform & Reauthorization Act (AIRR Act), which is scheduled for committee mark-up on Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives. Currently, air traffic control and air travel safety...    more...
• Jun 14, 2017 NFFE Responds to Congress Passing VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act: “Weakening Employee Protections Will Not Make the VA More Accountable” Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the misleadingly-titled “Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017” (S. 1094), which passed the Senate last week. The bill is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump in the coming days.    more...
• May 23, 2017 Gutting of Federal Workers’ Retirement in Trump Budget Represents a ‘Race to the Bottom’ for All Americans NFFE President Randy Erwin on President Trump's Proposal to Slash Federal Employee Pensions: “President Trump campaigned on being a champion for working people and protecting people’s retirement. Now, in his first opportunity to make good on those promises, he is throwing working people...    more...
• May 16, 2017 Federal Union Responds to VA Accountability Bill: Low Standard for Misconduct Would Open VA Employees to Political Witch Hunts Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) strongly opposed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act (S. 1094) introduced last week in the U.S. Senate. If enacted, this bill will lower the agency’s burden of proof in cases involving employee...    more...
• May 5, 2017 Federal Union Responds to Trump Calling for Government Shutdown Washington, D.C. – Today, NFFE National President Randy Erwin condemned President Trump for calling for a government shutdown on Tuesday when Trump tweeted “our country needs a good shutdown in September.” In response, Erwin said the following: “There is no such thing as a good shutdown.    more...
• Apr 28, 2017 NFFE President Speaks on Congress Averting a Shutdown Washington, D.C. – Today, NFFE National President Randy Erwin released the following statement after Congress approved a short-term funding measure to avoid a government shutdown.    more...
• Apr 14, 2017 Federal Union to Trump Administration: “Firing Federal Workers is Not How You Drain the Swamp Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) admonished the statement of OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, who stated Tuesday that the so-called restructuring of the Executive Branch is “how you drain the swamp” in Washington. Mulvaney’s comments came in...    more...
• Mar 8, 2017 Federal Employee Union Responds to House Committees Targeting Federal Employees and Veterans Today, in two separate committees in the House of Representatives, veterans and federal employees came one step closer to losing several levels of checks and balances that could affect everything from government whistleblowing to the impact of health and medical care at the Department of Veterans...    more...
• Mar 3, 2017 NFFE to Congress: Stop Treating Veterans like Political Pawns Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) expressed its disappointment with the introduction of a bill that will deter talent and qualified medical expertise from working at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The bill, H.R. 2159, will eliminate many of the systematic...    more...
• Feb 24, 2017 Over 700 Red River Army Depot Jobs Saved! Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) praises Defense Secretary James Mattis for extending the jobs of over 700 term/temp employees at the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas. Until yesterday, the fate of these employees was unknown because the...    more...
• Feb 16, 2017 House Panel Struggles with Official Time The House Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity held a hearing on the federal government’s tracking and use of Official Time, a provision in the law that allows federal employees to promote efficiency, safety, and cost-saving measures to management...    more...
• Feb 10, 2017 Parental Leave Act Comes to Term with Families Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) praises U.S. Representatives Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) for introducing the Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Act of 2017. If passed, the measure will provide federal employees with six...    more...
• Jan 31, 2017 NFFE Supports FAIR Act Pay and Locality Increase National President Randy Erwin thanks U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly (D-VA) for introducing the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act which provides a 2 percent increase in wages and a 1.2 percent increase in locality pay for an increase of 3.2 percent for 2018. Federal workers have...    more...
• Jan 23, 2017 NFFE to Trump: Stop Campaigning and Start Governing NFFE President Randy Erwin criticizes Trump's hiring freeze of new federal employees, saying the freeze is little more than a gimmick to appease his beholden special interests. The executive order signed on Monday will cease hiring at most agencies and heavily impact the employment market,...    more...
• Jan 5, 2017 NFFE Clears Path for Wildland Firefighters, Defense Workers With the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (S. 2943), the National Federation of Federal Employees celebrates a victory for temporary and term employees at federal land management agencies and the Department of Defense through the creation of a career path to...    more...
• Sep 28, 2016 Randy Erwin Elected NFFE National President Today, delegates to the 50th NFFE National Convention in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. elected Randy Erwin as National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees with 86% of the total vote. David Stamey was elected as National Secretary-Treasurer with 60% of the total vote. Convention...    more...
• Jul 27, 2016 Democratic Platform Fails to Advocate for Federal Workforce While certainly better than the destructive GOP Platform adopted at last week's Republican National Convention, the 2016 Democratic Platform does little in the way for federal employees. It is discouraging that a platform repeatedly referencing federal resources and programs fails to mention...    more...
• Jul 20, 2016 GOP Platform Wrong for Federal Employees We get nowhere as a country when one political party seeks to take away hard-earned pay and benefits from this nation’s civil servants. At a time when federal employees make 35 percent less than comparable private sector workers, the GOP demands further cuts in salaries and benefits of our VA...    more...
• Jun 7, 2016 Federal Employees Union Exposes Shameful Hiring Practice by the Forest Service Today, members of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), representing 110,000 federal workers nation-wide, including more than 20,000 U.S.D.A. Forest Service (USFS) employees, are shining a light on the Forest Service (via informational hand-billing) for using an unfair hiring...    more...
• Mar 17, 2016 National President Dougan: To support wildland firefighters, President Obama must step in to rectify OPM's major mistake. As it stands, OPM is gutting the much-needed, bipartisan reforms of the LMWFA. The Congressional Record is clear that the Act is designed to provide long-serving temporary seasonal employees with 'the same career advancement opportunities available to other Federal employees.' In direct...    more...
• Jan 15, 2016 National President Dougan: The Militants Occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Must be Arrested. We have reports of employees of the U.S. Forest Service Employees on the Malheur National Forest receiving threats and being stalked by sympathizers of the militants. The situation has gotten bad enough that nearby federal installations remain closed out of fear of an attack. Allowing this...    more...
• Jul 10, 2015 Statement from National President Dougan Regarding OPM Director Archuleta Resignation "The announcement of OPM Director Archuleta’s resignation puts federal employees in a dire state of uncertainty. With Director Archuleta’s resignation, the volatility of this situation has escalated exponentially and we face a void of leadership. All the while, millions of federal employees...    more...
• Jul 9, 2015 National President Dougan: "The magnitude of worry has grown exponentially for federal employees in the wake of this news" "Today’s new number is staggering. With the total number of affected reaching 25 million, it is not yet clear how OPM can handle this massive increase, when they were already struggling with the initial 4.2 million. Now, not only do federal employees have to worry about their own personal...    more...
• Mar 2, 2015 National President Dougan: "Saddling Defense Workers with this $22.5 million per-year financial burden is a slap in the face." "Today’s legislation is sorely needed after the Department of Defense unilaterally plowed ahead with implementing a $22.5 million per-year financial burden on the workers who support our military," said Dougan. "We applaud Representatives Kilmer and Jones, as well as our allies on Capitol Hill...    more...
• Feb 25, 2015 Statement on the Passing of NFFE Assistant General Counsel Philip Snodgrass Phil was a young and talented member of the NFFE family, and had an outstanding legal mind. Since starting as a full-time employee years ago, he provided NFFE-IAM members superb service through countless workplace and legal proceedings around the country. We are devastated by the loss of our...    more...
• Jan 13, 2015 National President Dougan: "Federal Workers Have Earned a Pay Adjustment That Reflects the Increased Cost of Living." NFFE strongly supports Congressman Connolly’s bill to provide federal employees a well-earned and much-needed 3.8 percent pay adjustment in 2016. In the past two years, Congress and the President have enacted woefully insufficient one percent pay adjustments that were preceded by three years of...    more...
• Dec 4, 2014 National President Dougan: "The Department of Defense is placing a $38 million per-year burden on the workers who support our military." "The Department of Defense is placing a $38 million per-year burden on the workers who support our military,” said Dougan. “The Department is touting this as a prudent financial decision, but it amounts to nothing more than a new tax on defense workers with the misfortune of being assigned on...    more...
• Jul 8, 2014 National President Dougan: "Today's Request for an Additional $615 Million to Battle Wildfires is Much-needed." “Today’s request from the White House for an additional $615 million to battle wildfires is much-needed,” Dougan said. "This will also allow for land management agencies to go deeper into fire season without needing to use non-fire funds to pay for fire suppression as has happened too often...    more...
• Jun 25, 2014 National President Dougan: "Workplace Flexibility in the Federal Government Will Help Recruit and Retain Top Talent." “It is encouraging to see President Obama recognize the importance of work-life balance. This presidential memorandum is a statement to every federal agency that Obama is serious about actually using workplace flexibilities. Because federal workers’ pay lags so far behind the private sector,...    more...
• Jun 6, 2014 National President Dougan: "Funding for Wildfire Suppression is a Problem." “Funding for wildfire suppression is also a problem. The expense of fighting wildfires often exceeds the funds appropriated for wildfire suppression. When this happens, agencies transfer funds from other programs into firefighting accounts to cover the shortfall. This so-called ‘fire...    more...
• May 23, 2014 National President Dougan: "Federal Workers Deserve a Pay Adjustment that Actually Reflects the Cost of Living" “NFFE strongly supports S. 2397 and commends Senator Schatz and Senator Cardin for their support of the federal workforce. S. 2397 would provide federal employees a much-needed 3.3 percent pay adjustment instead of the President’s woefully insufficient one percent adjustment proposed in his...    more...
• Mar 26, 2014 National President Dougan: Raising Morale Will Improve Service to Americans “NFFE strongly supports the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, introduced today by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), joined by Congressmen Jim Moran (D-VA), Elijah Cummings (D-MD), John Tierney (D-MA) and other House members,” Dougan said.    more...
• Mar 4, 2014 National President Dougan: “While we applaud the President for protecting federal employees’ retirement security in his budget, I believe we are nearing a tipping point for the federal workforce. Following years of unsustainable and extreme budget measures, workers are becoming increasingly unhappy with their federal...    more...
• Feb 26, 2014 National President Dougan: Following reports that the President will propose a one percent pay increase for federal employees in his upcoming budget, NFFE National President Dougan released the following statement: “The President’s proposed one percent pay adjustment for federal employees in 2015 is woefully...    more...
• Jan 29, 2014 National President Dougan: The President Needs to Stand Up and Lead by Example “The President needs to stand up and lead by example. As he presses for raising the minimum wage, he must also ensure that federal hourly employees receive the exact increase he advocates for. We believe that raising the minimum wage for federal hourly employees is the low-hanging fruit, and...    more...
• Dec 11, 2013 National President Dougan: “This is Death by 1,000 Cuts.” With the announcement of an agreement reached by the Budget Conference Committee, William R. Dougan, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, the oldest federal employee union representing 110,000 federal workers throughout the U.S., issued the following statement:...    more...
• Oct 16, 2013 National President Dougan: “This Era of Congress Manufacturing One Crisis After Another Must End. With the government likely on the brink of ending its shutdown, William R. Dougan, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a national union representing 110,000 federal workers throughout the U.S., issued the following statement: "Federal Employees are real people,...    more...
• Aug 22, 2013 National President Dougan Calls on Congress for Emergency Funding as Federal Fire Suppression Budget Officially Runs Dry The National Federation of Federal Employees, a national union representing 110,000 federal workers government-wide, including the majority of federal wildland firefighters, is calling on Congress to provide emergency funds to supplement the recently exhausted federal wildfire suppression budget...    more...
• Jul 18, 2013 Dougan Pens Letter to Congress Urging Support for Cole-Kilmer Amendment to Exempt 180,000 Defense Employees from Furloughs With furloughs underway for over 650,000 Department of Defense (DoD) workers, serious questions have been raised about the potential for yet another round of temporary forced layoffs in fiscal year 2014. A major point of contention has developed over DoD’s initial decision to furlough 180,000...    more...
• Jul 3, 2013 Campaign to End Defense Furloughs Nets Thousands of Letters from 47/50 States to Nearly 300 Congressional Offices With furloughs for nearly 700,000 Defense employees just around the corner, thousands of federal workers are speaking out to put a stop to them. This week, the Federal Workers Alliance, a coalition of 20 labor unions representing 300,000 federal employees throughout government, launched a...    more...
• Jul 1, 2013 20 Federal Unions Join Forces to Pressure Hill with Grassroots “Furlough Red Zone” Campaign to Stop Defense Furloughs The Federal Workers Alliance, a coalition of 20 unions collectively representing over 300,000 federal workers in dozens of departments agencies throughout government, is announcing a coalition-wide campaign to combat the upcoming furlough of more than 650,000 Department of Defense (DoD) civilian...    more...
• Jun 26, 2013 Dougan Praises Decision Striking Down DOMA; Urges Swift Implementation for Federal Employees In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act this morning, NFFE National President William R. Dougan issued the following statement: “We are thrilled at the decision to strike down the harmful Defense of Marriage Act. There is no longer any reason to...    more...
• Apr 10, 2013 Federal Union Leader on White House Budget: Today Washington ‘Abandoned’ Federal Employees It’s clear today that Washington has abandoned federal employees. We’ve already seen three consecutive years of frozen pay, a quadrupling in the amount new workers pay toward their pensions, and now painful furloughs scheduled for the majority of the federal workforce. Yet this budget asks...    more...
• Mar 5, 2013 FEEA Prepares for Federal Furloughs with Help from Congresswoman Norton Speaking at the Federal Managers Association’s 75th National Convention, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today reaffirmed her intention to donate one day’s pay for each day federal employees are furloughed due to sequestration. Norton plans to divide the donation evenly between...    more...
• Feb 27, 2013 Union Leader Slams Senate GOP Sequestration Measure Targeting Federal Pay, Retirement “Here we go again. Rather than proposing a serious solution to sequestration, Senator Ayotte and her GOP colleagues have chosen to dust off well-worn attacks on federal employees that do nothing to fix the problem. Federal employees have already endured over two years of frozen pay and an...    more...
• Feb 26, 2013 Hundreds of Feds Detail Devastating Impact of Furloughs on New Online Message Board The Federal Workers Alliance, a coalition of 20 unions collectively representing over 300,000 federal workers throughout government, started a message board Friday for anxious feds to share their stories on how potential sequestration furloughs would impact their livelihoods. In just a matter of...    more...
• Feb 15, 2013 National President Dougan Sounds Off on House Passage of Federal Pay Freeze Extension “What happened on Capitol Hill this morning was politics at its worst. Rather than approve a modest 0.5% pay adjustment for millions of middle class federal employees, the House chose to make a cheap political statement. This vote was not about controlling spending. After two years of frozen...    more...
• Feb 13, 2013 National President Dougan Pens Letter to Congress Urging ‘No’ Vote on Pay Freeze Extension “Federal workers have already made significant sacrifices to help ease the burden of our national debt,” Dougan wrote. “We swallowed hard and accepted a pay freeze lasting more than two years, which has been a great burden to federal workers and their families that are struggling just like...    more...
• Feb 6, 2013 President Dougan Blasts GOP Plan to Delay Sequester by Slashing Federal Workforce “Slashing the workforce to generate a year’s worth of savings is like cutting off your arm to lose weight for the prom. It makes no sense to permanently diminish the government’s ability to serve the American people in order to finance kicking the can down the road for another year. The...    more...
• Jan 1, 2013 National President Dougan on Senate Fiscal Cliff Solution: “Federal Employees Got a Bad Deal” “The proposed fiscal cliff solution is a bad deal for federal employees. The most important federal workforce issue of our generation – sequestration – continues to hang over the head of federal employees throughout government. Furthermore, the failure to address the nation’s borrowing...    more...
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