Protecting American Agriculture Employees for Over 50 Years


NAAE represents both professional and nonprofessional (non-clerical and non-managerial) employees in Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), a division of the US Department of Agriculture, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service. PPQs activities include: certifying agriculture commodities for export, inspecting plant shipments entering the United States for exotic pests, and managing control programs for exotic pests that threaten American agriculture and forest resources.

As a small rank-and-file union with a much dispersed bargaining unit, we use our limited resources to obtain and defend our basic rights as federal employees.

10.18.2019 NAAE Update

 NAAE Members:

Our Union has joined the fight against the administration's plot to weaken the rights of federal employees and their unions.

On behalf of NAAE members, we have sued the government alleging that the three Executive Orders issued by the President in May 2018 are incompatible with the laws governing labor-management relations in the federal government, and we are asking the judge to block them.

You may have heard that other unions have filed similar cases, but ours speaks directly to the profound and debilitating effect the orders will have on our small but mighty union, and it is important for us to take a stand.

For example, one of the provisions in the Executive Orders would severely limit grievances by any of our employees over removals or ratings.  Another provision would dramatically curtail the amount of time that NAAE representatives are allowed to spend preparing grievances or providing other important representational services to our members.  This would be a direct attack on NAAE's effectiveness.  It could also lead to management being more dismissive of our union when it comes time to bargain a new contract.  That is not good for any of us.

We have already seen other federal agencies use these orders to gut contracts and take away important rights and benefits, and we don't want to be next.

The case was filed October 18, 2019 in U.S. District Court in Maryland, and we will keep you updated on its progress.


10.12.19  The latest NAAE Flash has been posted, click here to read it.


Click here to read about your rights as a union member under the Civil Service Reform Act