Union: Cutting military commissary budget would affect tens of thousands of federal workers

The largest federal employee union is calling on the Defense Department to stop a proposal to cut funding for its commissaries, says a March 18 American Federation of Government Employees letter to Congress.

AFGE, who represents 650,000 federal workers nationwide and overseas, says the cuts to commissary funding would threaten the jobs of tens of thousands of civilian employees at the commissaries and exchanges who "deliver important and necessary services to the military community," the letter (pdf) says.

"The cut is a badly-disguised attempt to put the commissaries into a death spiral," AFGE Legislative Director Beth Moten wrote in a letter.

DoD is proposing $300 million in funding to be cut from the commissary budget in fiscal 2016 to deal with shortfalls brought on by Budget Control Act spending constraints.

Moten says the funding reduction would force commissaries to reduce their hours and days of operation and increase costs for goods and services, particularly at more remote locations.

"Commissaries would no longer be a convenient bargain for military families," she says in the letter. "The commissaries and exchanges are an earned benefit treasured by military families and an important contributor to their quality of life."

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