Dear Bargaining Unit Employees,
Last night and this morning, our employees across PPQ received devastating news that left them heartbroken and abandoned by their agency. We are upset and furious that loyal and hardworking employees have been unjustly harmed and the federal programs our country depends on to safeguard American agriculture have been hamstrung overnight.
On Thursday February 13th, employees across New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts were suddenly told their contracts would no longer be renewed. Then today, on February 14th, employees across the country were let go because of their probationary status, some without accurate records describing the work they do, and some labeled “poor performers” without any attempts to document or correct alleged performance issues. If you have received an official termination letter, please fill out this form: https://form.jotform.com/250453382823153. You can obtain the password by contacting your union representative. We need to review the information to determine the best course of action.
Our employees have worked diligently and quietly to protect the public from rising prices at the supermarket and potential shortages of certain goods due to biosecurity threats from abroad. They have dedicated their time and energy to protecting the American taxpayer and securing our agricultural supply chain. Now, these employees and their families who depend on them have been left scrambling to figure out how they will get by. Entire offices are paralyzed and destroyed by the loss of morale. If their intention was to damage our capacity to do our work, the administration has accomplished their goal.
These layoffs have affected every aspect of PPQs service to the American people. This irrational action has the potential to snowball into a devastating risk to our food security across the country. Our ability to respond to threats has been undermined, leaving us vulnerable. Our remaining employees will do their best to carry out our agency’s mission, but our inspection programs were already short staffed before this brutal week.
These programs and the employees who carry them out are critical for safeguarding American agriculture from invasive pests and pathogens that can cause millions of dollars in economic damage and threaten our access to export markets. Should these threats spread beyond their current quarantine regions, we as Americans will inevitably pay more out of pocket for food, and our natural resources will suffer irreparable harm.
We are saddened that the administration decided these programs were not worth the investment at the same time other agencies began removing term employees, and conveniently right after the deadline for accepting the “fork in the road” offer.
NAAE is responding, and our legal counsel is investigating our best course of action. We depend on employees giving us information as the situation develops, specifically if you have received an official termination letter. The protections for term and probationary employees are limited, but that does not mean they lack rights. As a union, we have been preparing for this exact scenario and are ready to respond.
Sincerely,
NAAE