USDA moves to end employee union contracts, documents show

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By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture moved to terminate union contracts with thousands of employees of its animal health and food safety inspection agencies, according to documents seen by Reuters, as one union on Wednesday challenged the firings in court.

The notices sent to union leaders at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Food Safety and Inspection Service on Tuesday evening said the action was aligned with President Donald Trump’s March executive order to exclude some federal workers from collective bargaining because their agencies have national security missions, the documents show.

The Trump administration also has moved to end union contracts at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies under the executive order.

“USDA is optimizing our workforce and returning the Department to a customer service-focused, farmer-first agency,” an agency spokesperson said. “This move will allow us to be a much more nimble as well as an attractive employer.”

About 6,500 food and consumer safety inspectors at FSIS were covered by the terminated collective bargaining agreement, said Paula Soldner, chairperson of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, part of the American Federation of Government Employees. FSIS employees inspect meat, poultry and egg products to assess quality and prevent foodborne illness.

The termination adds to employees’ uncertainty and confusion as the administration works to shrink the federal government, Soldner said.

Roughly 1,500 APHIS employees who inspect plants for pests and disease will be affected by a notice terminating their bargaining agreement, according to the National Association of Agriculture Employees. The NAAE filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Wednesday challenging the termination on the grounds that their work is unrelated to national security.

At least another 150 APHIS employees in a second agency union will also be affected, said a source familiar with the situation. 

A federal appeals court on August 1 lifted an injunction that had prevented agencies from implementing the executive order.

The USDA has lost more than 15,000 employees since January due to terminations or financial incentives to leave, including more than 500 at FSIS and 1,300 at APHIS.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter, Timothy Gardner, Richard Chang and Aurora Ellis)