Sept. 6, 2017

NTEU Campaign Celebrates Daily Contributions of Federal Workers

Washington, D.C – The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has launched a public service campaign to showcase the daily work done by federal employees and how it is interwoven into the fabric of our country. 

The national campaign is an uplifting statement that federal employees are always on duty: advancing science, preserving national parks, assisting taxpayers, securing the border, protecting consumers, and so on.

“The brilliance of this campaign is its simplicity. The images of dedicated federal employees doing their jobs are a thought-provoking reminder of how ingrained they are into our everyday life,” NTEU National President Tony Reardon said. “This campaign celebrates the nation’s frontline federal workers, who are often unseen and unsung.”

The national public service campaign, produced in English and Spanish, is a powerful statement about the people who serve their country by delivering vital services in every city, county and state in America.

“We want people to remember that many of the things they depend upon – clean air and water, a sound financial system, safe food and medicine – are provided by professional, nonpartisan civil servants,” Reardon said. “They were hired based on merit to serve the taxpayers, not the politicians. ‘They Work for U.S.’ is not just a slogan, it’s a fact.”

The 15-second and 30-second public service announcements (PSAs), together with an all-out effort by NTEU to dispel some myths about the federal workforce, will alert Americans of the need to preserve the civil service system.

“In this fast-moving, factionalized media world we live in, NTEU wanted to pause and reflect on the wisdom of the civil service laws first written 134 years ago, guaranteeing a federal workforce based on professionalism, not patronage,” Reardon said. “There is great honor in public service, and this campaign will make sure Americans never forget that.”

The NTEU campaign will include television spots, a website, a robust social media presence and a grassroots effort involving NTEU’s chapters around the nation. The television spots are being distributed to more than 10,000 local television stations around the country.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 31 federal agencies and departments.

NTEU

1750 H St., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20006

nteu-pr@nteu.org

202-572-5500

www.nteu.org   Twitter: @NTEUnews

NTEU launches campaign to remind voters feds work for them, not politicians Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, thinks many Americans tend to project their frustrations with Congress and other elected officials onto the federal workforce. And why not? A sprawling, largely faceless bureaucracy makes an easy target.

(David Thornton, Federal News Radio, Sept. 7) Read the full article

Week in Washington National Treasury Employees Union president Tony Reardon told reporters that NTEU is launching a multimedia campaign designed to show how federal employees "do the work taxpayers want and need them to do." Reardon emphasized that the constant budget uncertainty "is demoralizing" to federal employees but that they still perform vital services for the public. The idea behind the campaign, which will involve multiple platforms, is to show people how much federal employees contribute to important public services people depend on, including recovery from natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey. NTEU also plans to launch another campaign later this fall to address some "of the myths" surrounding who federal employees are and what they do. (CyberFeds, Sept. 7)

Shutdown threat ends with WH-Congress spending deal The good news: After months of worry about a looming government shutdown, Congress and the White House Sept. 7 reached a widely-reported deal that—when passed and signed—will end that threat…. On the same day that the deal was announced, Anthony Reardon, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union held a telephone media briefing. Reardon, like Cox, offered his hope that Congress and the White House would continue to work together to avoid shutdowns—this fall, and in the future. “I really hope that Congress can work together to make sure that we’re not on the brink of another shutdown,” Reardon told reporters. “I don’t think there is anything that is helpful [about one]—so for the good of our country, I think this repeated threatened disruption of our government operations, really, has got to stop.” “Federal employees want to do their job,” he added. (FedSoup staff, Sept. 7)

The new PSA campaign was also covered by WTOP Radio in Washington D.C., CyberFeds, and Federal Soup.

“The National Treasury Employees Union is on a mission to change the way average Americans see the federal workforce,” starts the WTOP story, which aired several times on Sept. 8.

CyberFeds, a publication that focuses on federal government operations, quoted NTEU National President Tony Reardon about the campaign, saying it will show federal employees doing “the work that taxpayers want and need them to do.”

“The idea behind the campaign, which will involve multiple platforms, is to show people how much federal employees contribute to important public services people depend on, including recovery from natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey,” the CyberFeds story states.

Federal Soup included details about the PSA campaign in a Sept. 7 story about the three-month continuing resolution that was approved by Congress to keep the government funded through Dec. 8.

“I really hope that Congress can work together to make sure that we’re not on the brink of another shutdown,” Reardon told reporters, according to the Federal Soup story. “Federal employees want to do their job.”