My dad is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, and after 30 years, he is finally approaching retirement. He has laid out plans with a financial advisor that prepare him for retirement in June of 2018. Finally, he’ll earn a reprieve from all the physical aches from the job, the worries about policies affecting his workplace, the frustration from senseless directives from supervisors, and working those extra hours as union steward to defend the rights of his fellow postal carriers, to name a few.
That’s not to say my dad hasn’t loved his career as a mailman. He takes pride in how much his customers love him, how he always puts their checks on top, how he goes the extra mile to carry packages to a secure door, and about how he is likely the slowest carrier in the office due to his meticulousness and attention to detail that keeps the mail in order and his customers happy. He cares about his job, and is passionate about doing it well. But with all the ups, there were plenty of downs that he shared, often after particularly rough days, first at the kitchen table, and now, across thousands of miles over Facetime. But, no matter! The end is near, right?
Wrong, I fear, if we let lawmakers continue on the path they are on. The budget proposed by the president and currently being considered by Congress would upend my dad’s retirement plans and thousands of other federal employees approaching retirement.
The budget of the Trump administration, recently passed by the Senate, calls for some significant changes to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS). These changes will directly impact middle class federal employees, one of the most significant being the end to subsidies for FERS employees that retire before age 62 (when retirees can begin to collect social security). Put plainly, this change will force my dad and others in his position to delay retirement plans for another two years because they will not be able to collect a portion of the funds they had been promised. So much for all those meetings with the financial advisor! For years, my dad and other retirees have had their date circled on the calendar; the date they had been waiting for, after so many years of hard work and sacrifice. In haste, the president and Republican lawmakers can undo all those plans.
Notably, these cuts and other changes to FERS follow shortly after the announcement of a proposed tax policy that appears to cater to the wealthy rather than the working class. Proposing tax reform that does not correct for the well-documented explosion in wealth for the upper class over the last 30 years is bad enough, but to combine that now with a change in employee retirement policy that directly impacts so many middle-class workers and retirees is beyond unjust; it’s monstrous. Amazing, a significant portion of the country will defend these actions in the name of “fiscal responsibility” and “lean government,” while in the backdrop, thousands of hard-working people like my dad will be scrambling to adjust, with their hopes to retire within the year crushed while being forced into futures they did not envision, nor deserve.
One cannot even truly quantify the immense value of these retirement years that are at stake here, knowing all too well that life is unpredictable, and no one can completely plan for the future (in regard to health and well-being). I am no expert on FERS, but surely there is a more sensible path. Some may have justifiable arguments regarding some necessary changes that ought to be made. But, any sensible and decent person would enact changes gradually, rather than pulling the rug out from under those who have imminent plans to retire that have been years in the making.
My dad worked hard. My dad did his job. He put in his time, and planned for his future. Let us demand that our representatives respect that future, or let us remember when they ask us to vote on theirs.
• Jeffrey Smith of Juneau is a certified teacher whose studies focused on political science. He is the son of a federal employee who will be negatively impacted by proposed changes to the Federal Employee Retirement System.
