INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF
PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL ENGINEERS
AFL-CIO & CLC
501 3rd Street, NW, Suite 701, Washington, DC 20001
202-239-4880 • FAX 202-239-4881 • www.ifpte.org
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 13, 2012
Contact: Matthew Biggs
(202) 239-4880
Gregory J. Junemann
PRESIDENT
Paul Shearon
SECRETARY-TREASURER
President Calls for Federal Employee Pension Increases
Proposed FY13 NASA Budget Falls Short
With troubling cuts to Science, Aeronautics, Exploration Systems, & Cross-Agency Support
AREA VICE PRESIDENTS
Charlie Trembley
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
NORTHEASTERN
Larry Chojnacki
MIDWESTERN
Ron Dicks
WESTERN
Michael E. Hochberg
SPEEA
Misty Hughes-Newman
CANADIAN
John G. Lowden Jr.
ATLANTIC
Lou Lucivero
WESTERN
Jimmie Mathis
SPEEA
Mark A. Nelson
EASTERN FEDERAL
Joe A. Newberry
SPEEA
Gerald Newsome
ATLANTIC
WASHINGTON, DC – Gregory Junemann, President of the International Federation
of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE), issued the following statement
regarding the President’s proposed 2013 budget:
“IFPTE is obviously pleased that this budget will put an end to the federal pay freeze,
although the proposed COLA is only about one fifth of the true inflation correction.
We are also pleased to see that the Administration plans on allowing the Bush tax cuts
for the wealthy to expire. Indeed, to date, we have seen little in the way of shared
sacrifice in terms of deficit reduction. The only group who has stepped up to the plate
to take one for the team is federal workers. Not Wall Street who caused this whole
economic mess, not the highest wage earners in our nation who have actually
benefited during these very difficult times, just middle-class federal workers…IFPTE
is disappointed that federal employees are being asked once again to absorb even more
hits while bankers, vulture capitalists, millionaires, and billionaires have contributed
nothing. That said, our union will do what it has been doing for the better part of the
last 18 months – fight against all of these attacks on federal workers, regardless of
where they originate.”
Junemann also issued the following statement pertaining to the FY13 NASA budget:
“While IFPTE applauds the Administration for sparing NASA from larger cuts, we
remain extremely concerned that the serious challenges to America’s world leadership
in Aeronautics and Space R&D, from Europe and China, have not seen a forceful
American response. Indeed, NASA’s proposed top line, frozen below the FY09 level,
is incommensurate with our national desire to remain the world’s only superpower.
While we welcome an emerging American commercial space industry ultimately
taking over ISS crew and cargo delivery through private-sector capital investments,
NASA must not waver in its commitment to renew its core federal capabilities, so that
we can remain the unquestioned world leader in Aerospace R&D and Exploration, as
well as a smart buyer of commercial goods and services and overseer of contracts.
Rodney G. Sheppard
CANADIAN
Lee Stone
WESTERN FEDERAL
“IFPTE is also concerned that the proposed budget shortchanges key programs. While
we strongly support JWST, the critical replacement for Hubble, we believe Science,
Aeronautics, and Exploration Systems should at least remain at their FY12 levels.
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Continued-
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL ENGINEERS
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Pg. 2 – IFPTE Press Release (President’s 2013 Budget), 2/13/2012
“IFPTE is however pleased with the proposed increased investment in the new Space
Technology mission, charged with fostering long-lead technology R&D efforts with
high-risk, but potentially game-changing, projects that the private sector is ill-suited to
undertake. The creation of this new mission freed NASA’s most creative and innovative
technology researchers, and their academic partners, from the shackles of near-term
vehicle development. Regrettably, the Administration continues to leave its Space Life
and Physical Science Research programs, which should be led by scientists focused on
research to enable long-duration human exploration, languishing under a Constellationera organization, which remains dominated by an engineering and clinical culture focused
on near-term risk mitigation. Unless this changes and the Human Research budget is
consolidated with about 10% of the ISS budget to support a broad new scientific portfolio
within the Science mission, NASA will never achieve the scientific breakthroughs needed
to lead mankind in human space exploration beyond low-earth orbit.
“If federal agencies, including NASA, are to continue to succeed, we cannot be party to
attacks on federal employees. NASA’s federal workforce, for example, is nearly half the
size it was during Apollo and is only about 30% of on-site workers at NASA centers, yet
unwise outsourcing continues to squander taxpayer dollars and the proposed cuts to
Cross-Agency Support and staff would undermine technical excellence and safety.
Federal health care contributions continue to rise exponentially, yet federal salaries have
been frozen for two years. Federal employee pensions are already half that during
Apollo, yet the Administration is providing a half-billion-dollar bail out to a NASAcontractor pension fund while also proposing to more than double payroll deductions for
civil-servant pensions.”
Finally, Junemann issued the following statement pertaining to the DoD:
“IFPTE is concerned that the budget calls on Congress to approve two new rounds of the
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. IFPTE remains opposed to BRAC and
will work with Congress to prevent any new round of BRAC from occurring in the near
future.”
IFPTE is NASA’s largest federal employee union, representing more than 8,000
employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). IFPTE also
represents tens of thousands of federal workers at the Department of Defense (DoD), the
Department of Interior (DOI), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Congressional
Research Service (CRS), the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA), and Administrative Law Judges at the Social Security
Administration.
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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL ENGINEERS
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