Union to discuss sequester furloughs with IRS

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said Thursday that it wants to work with the IRS to avoid worker furloughs caused by scheduled automatic spending cuts.

According to the union, the IRS has told employees to expect between five and seven furlough days to start in the summer, because of the $85 billion in sequester cuts set to start Friday.

The agency has also said a hiring freeze will continue, and that it will need to cut back on travel, training, supplies and other expenditures.

“None of these developments is good for the agency, for employees or for taxpayers,” Colleen Kelley, NTEU’s president, said in a statement. “IRS employees are middle-class workers who have had their pay frozen for over two years. Those furloughs will hurt their ability to pay their bills and serve the public.”

Kelley also said that the NTEU would try to work with the IRS to find other savings that would help avoid furloughs, and bargain with the agency if need be. 

The IRS is just one of a slew of federal agencies currently grappling with how to deal with sequestration. Officials at the IRS have also said budget cuts in recent years have affected their ability to collect taxes and serve taxpayers. 

Generally speaking, federal employees receive at least a month’s notice before being furloughed.

Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on how to replace the $85 billion in cuts, with the White House and congressional Democrats seeking a mix of both cuts and revenues. 

Republicans, meanwhile, generally want to keep the current amount of cuts, but are open to replacing them with more targeted spending restraint.

President Obama is scheduled to host congressional leaders at the White House on Friday, the same day the cuts are to set to hit. 

But the House has already left Washington for the week, and lawmakers don’t expect a deal to replace the cuts to materialize for weeks – if not months.

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