On Wednesday, May 14, National Postal Mail Handlers Union National President Paul V. Hogrogian joined other postal and federal workforce unions to discuss current threats to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) with Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Retirement benefits for most Mail Handlers are currently under attack with the budget reconciliation package calling for increases to employee contributions with no corresponding increase to benefits; changing annuity computation from “high 3”  to “high 5” average salary; eliminating the FERS supplement for those who are eligible to retire before they qualify for Social Security; and, tying FERS contribution rates to union membership for new hires.

NPMHU and these groups have been educating members of the House on how these changes would be devastating to Mail Handlers, and all postal and federal employees.

Commenting on these threats, President Hogrogian commented, “The reconciliation plan is nothing but cuts to the take-home pay of not only the middle-class workers of NPMHU who work in Postal facilities spread throughout the country in states and jurisdictions large and small, but for 640,000 postal employees and 2 million federal employees across the country.”