Newsroom

NCUA said it sealed a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union Tuesday to keep the regulator's employee pay and benefits program competitive with other financial services regulators, as required by law, and provide cost controls.

The agreement was signed by NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz and NTEU President Colleen Kelley. It covers the period from June 30, 2015, through July 2, 2020, NCUA staff said.

NCUA staff salaries and benefits, training, and all other aspects of the agency's operations are paid by the agency's operating budget, which is funded by credit unions. More details could emerge during the agency's midyear reprogramming, usually discussed during the July open NCUA Board meeting.

NCUA said specific elements of the new agreement include:

• pay caps at all grade levels and more controls over growth in the locality pay adjustments to curb the rate of growth in salary expense;
• fixed increases in the pay schedules for more predictability in salary growth;
• new telework provisions requiring employees to work from home when the federal government closes; and
• further refinement in the benefits package that was modernized in the last contract, including an increase to the health benefits subsidy and the NCUA Savings Plan for employees.

NTEU represents approximately 950 of NCUA's nearly 1,200 employees and about 150,000 bargaining unit employees in 30 federal agencies and departments. NCUA said NTEU members overwhelmingly approved the agreement.

NCUA said the agreement also makes revisions to the employee travel reimbursement program "by recognizing needed changes in light of the increasing overnight staff travel required due to the declining number of local credit unions." The agreement will streamline administrative and reporting processes to maximize employee and management productivity, the agency noted.