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A House budget reconciliation package has recently gone to the Senate for review. There were some wins for federal retirement benefits in the changes made from the initial House bill, but more changes are needed. Furthermore, the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee made changes that worsened the impact to federal employees and unions. The current bill triples FERS contributions for new employees unless they become at-will employees, gives the president authority to unilaterally close agencies, taxes union dues, and enacts a $350 fee to exercise due process rights through the Merit Systems Protection Board. Our union IFPTE President Matthew Biggs released a statement, saying: “We call on all lawmakers in Congress to oppose these budget reconciliation provisions that attack the federal government and the federal workforce that serves the American public. This is not just about standing up for our members and our union, but for all Americans.” Just this week, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that these sections targeting federal employees must be removed from the current reconciliation bill since they constitute significant “non-budgetary policy changes”. This ruling is a big win for our rights, but it remains important to keep up pressure on Congress so these policies are not put forward in a different form.
IFPTE has set up a webpage on Action Network which provides an easy way for you to send a letter to your Senators asking them to reject these potential changes to federal employees benefits and rights, with a letter template you can edit: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-stop-the-attack-on-federal-unions-civil-service-protections-and-government-services-and-agencies-in-budget-reconciliation-bill You can share this link with friends and family in other states, and ask them to contact their Senators too. As usual, these actions should be performed on personal time, using a personal device, and not at work.  GESTA is encouraging people to wear red on Thursdays as a sign of solidarity and support. This action is inspired by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), who used red shirt days starting in 2012 to build unity in their fight for a better contract. “Red For Feds” has now gained new traction in 2025. It may seem like a little thing, but as Labor Notes reported, “the genius of the ‘wear red’ tactic was its simplicity. It was something concrete and low-risk that a committee member could ask anyone to do, even someone who had no extra time. The visibility helped alleviate fears: co-workers could see for themselves the growing level of union support. At first, many people would just wear a red scarf or a red-patterned blouse on Fridays. But as excitement and confidence grew, more and more ordered red CTU T-shirts. Administrators noticed. Students noticed. Members loved it. Many sent in group photos of themselves at their schools, all in red, for the union website. …’This small, simple tactic built unity very quickly,’ said labor educator Steven Ashby. It’s also a great opportunity to start – or continue – talking to your coworkers about joining union actions. Encourage them to wear “Red for Feds” on Thursdays, ask them to spread the word on, and see how much support you can build from one week to the next! Anyone can participate, not just union members.
Congress will ultimately weigh in on whether the devastating cuts to NASA in the President’s budget request become a reality. The Planetary Society has updated their main advocacy page with ways you can take action to “Save NASA” and NASA Space Science: https://www.planetary.org/save-nasa-science. This includes a petition to Congressional leaders (open to people to sign worldwide), a form that will pre-populate and send a message to your representatives, another form that will provide a script and phone numbers to call your representatives, and resources for illustrating the impacts of the proposed cuts. You can even personalize your message or call with some excerpts from GESTA’s Statement below. We encourage you to take these actions and also to share these resources with colleagues, friends and family, to help spread the word!
On April 23rd, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a proposal for a new regulation titled “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service” in the Federal Register. This regulation would revive a category of federal employees called “Schedule F” (first introduced in 2020 by the Trump administration and subsequently repealed under the prior Biden administration), under a new name, “Schedule Policy / Career.” This new category or “schedule” of federal workers would not have civil service job protections, making them effectively at-will employees who could be easily fired by the Trump administration. The new regulation would also involuntarily move tens of thousands (or more) current federal employees into this new "Schedule P/C," category thus stripping current civil servants of their job protections. OPM has provided a 30-day comment window before the regulation is finalized – and the comment deadline has been extended to this Saturday June 7. We encourage individuals to submit comments here, IFPTE has provided a template for comments. Additional information on this new rule is also available here from Democracy Forward.
As many are aware, union members and colleagues at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) were forced out of their current office space on May 31st, with no alternative office space yet identified. GESTA has been talking to employees at GISS in New York and meeting with management officials at Goddard to attempt to alleviate the impacts of the forced move out of the GISS building.
The Fiscal Year 2026 “skinny” budget proposal was released by the Trump Administration last Friday. The administration's proposal calls for a 24% reduction to NASA’s total budget and absolutely devastating cuts to Space Science (-44%), Earth Science (-53%), Aeronautics (-37%) and Space Technology (-48%). The budget would also eliminate all STEM educational programs and severely restrict funding to “IT services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, construction and environmental compliance activities”. These proposed cuts have already drawn an extremely negative reaction from the Space community and some political leaders. We encourage you to make your voice heard as well! The Planetary Society had compiled an Advocacy Action Center Webpage that streamlines (providing a template script and contact information) ways to call and write your Congressional representatives to advocate for NASA funding. A reminder to please do so on your personal time, on a personal device, in accordance with the Hatch Act.
 We recently learned that the termination of the lease for our employees at the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) is scheduled for May 31, 2025, with no replacement office yet identified. GISS is a laboratory within the Earth Sciences Division of Goddard Space Flight Center, affiliated with Columbia University, in New York City. GISS is a leading center for Earth and planetary science research. Our GISS employees produce a suite of datasets fundamental to the understanding of our planet Earth and their work has aided in the prediction of storms, including Hurricane Sandy, California wildfires, and tornadoes and tsunamis affecting the entire globe. We urgently ask if you may write or call the political leaders in New York State, as well as your own congressional representatives, and ask them to support GISS. Please do so on your personal time, on a personal device in accordance with the Hatch Act. To help you advocate, templates with talking points and the representatives' contact information, can be found here.
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