Posted on 05/23/2019 3:00:27 PM PDT by RightGeek
Employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are quitting at a rapid clip as Secretary Sonny Perdue prepares to move forward with plans to relocate two offices far outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway.
Federal employees at the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) – two small but important agencies within the USDA – are unhappy with Perdue’s plan, announced last August, to move the majority of their staff from current offices in the capital to an area closer the country’s agricultural centers.
“This move does not serve a public purpose,” Peter Winch, a representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents ERS workers, told Fox News. “Employees don’t want to move, and it doesn’t make sense for them to move.”
US FARMERS HURT BY TRADE WAR GETTING $16 BILLION BOOST, US AGRICULTURE SECRETARY SAYS
Winch added that since ERS employees joined AFGE earlier this month, six employees have already quit their jobs with the government agency in response to the planned move. He said overall staffing is down to 209 from 300 during the Obama administration.
A Washington Post report cited an estimate that the ERS used to see roughly one “non-retirement” departure per month – but that pace has doubled since October. NIFA reportedly has also seen people leave.
...
Perdue and his staff have narrowed the list of places where the two agencies could go down to three from an original 130 -- with Kansas City, the state of Indiana and North Carolina’s research triangle in the Raleigh-Durham area on the shortlist. St. Louis, Mo., and Madison, Wis., are two alternate locations.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Of course, with the roaring economy we have now, even chair-warmers like these can find work.
The agencies will lose some good people. Moving out of DC may be the right move in the long run, but there will be short term costs.
I have suggested building the “Albert Gore Unified Federal Office Complex” on Midway Island.
Move 5000 bureaucrats from Washington DC to the middle of the Pacific. Give them no work or task to do but require them to show up for work everyday. If they quit they forfeit their pension.
There is already a long runway there. There are some buildings left over from when it was a military base. Build a concrete high rise with a shipping complex. Give them a 3 bedroom 1500 sf apartment in the building.
All good choices and moving out of DC is a plus.
If I’m not mistaken, there are cost of living adjustments for different parts of the country for the same GS levels. So, while these people will have lower costs of livings, their wages will be adjusted accordingly.
Not that I'd wish it on them but there's a town in South Dakota called Deadwood.
Move them closer to agriculture!?!
Though I can’t remember which episode, I’m reminded of Yes, Prime Minister when there’s a hint of moving the functions of government away from London.
Self draining swamp
My cynicism radar just turned on....
I am figuring another ‘Trump Ruse’, drop a rumor about moving or revamping and a lot of the dead wood may just ‘walk away’ from it.
When the USDA thinned down, withdraw the ‘plan’ and pick another target.
In a couple of years when the dummies catch on, actually move something out of town or randomly pick one to keep all on their toes...
DON’T THROW ME IN THAT BRIAR PATCH....PLEASE! PLEASE...
The best swamp is the self-draining kind.
I got an idea other then a small office of about 50 employees why not close all of the administrative offices in DC and distribute the office work that goes on in DC across the nation. we don’t need very many people working in dc administrating agencies. because of mass communication through the internet it no longer is important that an office like the USDA has most its personnel located in one location administrating the needs of the nation...Break up Washington and force the bureaucrats to live in the smaller communities around the nation.
That’s not called quitting. When a government agency makes a move they relocate many government personnel as they can to other agencies or they give them the option to move... and they will purchase your house at fair market value so you can go down to wherever you’re going with the new location and purchase another house. So they don’t quit...they got a great package to relocate or like I said they will find them other jobs at their pay grade in the DC area with other agencies.
So in other words this article is a bald-faced lie.
Nice. And smart.
(If he wants to keep one cherry tree specialist in DC, that’s OK.)
No.
They need to be widely dispersed to minimize patronage relationships. With telecommunications there is minimal need for centralized location.
Good-if they don’t want to live in the area where their work is actually relevant and get their hands dirty along with us rural deplorables, good riddance-and it gets rid of some useless fed jobs-besides, it makes perfect sense-locate the agencies concerned with agriculture-crops, animal husbandry, etc-in places where farming/ranching is actually done-I don’t think there are a lot of farms and ranches in and around DC...
Bye!
He didn’t say anything about moving the existing people.
Move the office. Hire new good hard-working and non-idiot midwesterners who might have actually set foot on a farm once in their lives.
“Move EVERY government office out of DC! I think North Dakota would be a good spot for most of them.”
I would relocate to ND. In a heartbeat.
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