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We want to make sure our dues-paying GESTA members are aware of one of the additional benefits of your union membership through our international Union, IFPTE which includes access to discounts on financial services, health, travel, shopping and other benefits through Union Plus. You can find more details of the benefits at the Union Plus Website: www.unionplus.org. From the website you can create an account to begin accessing your benefits. When creating an account select “IFPTE” as your union from the drop-down menu.
A lawsuit, which GESTA has joined as a plaintiff, has been filed in response to the Goddard research library closure. The motion seeks emergency relief. Greenbelt News and Review recently published a story on the library closure and lawsuit and interviewed attorney Zachary Weil who represents GESTA and the other plaintiffs. In the article Weil speaks to some of the lawsuit arguments.
GESTA membership recently passed a resolution to condemn the killing of Alex Pretti, a fellow federal employee and federal union member, by federal immigration agents. You can read the GESTA resolution text here. As noted, copies of this resolution are in the process of being sent to the international leadership of IFPTE, members of Congress representing GESTA districts, other stakeholders, and the press
The Trump administration and the Office of Personal Management (OPM) have proposed new regulations that would limit the ability for NASA and other federal workers to obtain high performance ratings. A Government Executive article covers these proposed regulation changes which would require a forced distribution on employees ratings. The article describes the numerous issues with such a change noting that “agency representatives across government… nearly universally panned it in internal discussions, warning that its adoption would decrease employee performance and abandon merit systems principles.” The proposed changes are now out for public comments with public comments due by March 26th. A strategy for these comments is to raise multiple unique concerns that will require a response. We encourage you to submit a comment here by clicking the green ‘Submit an Public Comment’ at the top of the page. For guidance on what makes a good comment on proposed rule changes, you can see this document (relevant advice starting on page 2) from the Federal Union Network.
On January 14th GESTA members and allies, as well as IFPTE leadership, rallied on Capitol Hill with other federal union members in support of the The Protect American Workforce Act (PAWA).
Following months of diligent advocacy by GESTA members and tens of thousands of citizens across the country, Congress passed, and the President signed into law a NASA budget that funds the agency from February 1st through September 30th, 2026. A Planetary Society article gives a detailed overview of the topline funding as well as a mission-by-mission comparison between the budget as passed and the FY26 President’s Budget Request (PBR). With the exception of Mars Sample Return, all missions that were threatened with premature termination under the PBR received funding in the budget as passed. Furthermore, the Safety, Security, and Mission Services (SSMS) budget received nearly-flat funding ($3B in FY26, as compared to $3.1B in FY24 and FY25). SSMS funds the Center Engineering, Safety, and Operations (CESO) budget, which includes institutional and technical capabilities, facilities, and technical authority functions at Goddard Space Flight Center.
We want to highlight several GSFC-specific points included in the budget that will be of interest to readers: |
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