Employees in the USDA’s Economic Research Service have voted overwhelmingly to unionize on a 138 to 4 vote. That’s seen as the group opposing the proposed movement of their offices out of the nation’s Capital. Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish whose group is against the move of ERS and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture sees the unionization as a sign they don’t want to move.
He says the researchers at both ERS and NIFA need to remain in Washington D.C. where they can effectively work with policy makers.
Wertish says the Trump administration isn’t listening to what most Ag groups and the office employees are telling them and are bent on proceeding with the move anyway.
Next month employees in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture are scheduled to take a vote on possibly unionizing. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has already said they’ve narrowed down possible new locations for those offices.
