Union to fight FDA plan to put jobs up for competition

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/0807/082207ag1.htm

Union to fight FDA plan to put jobs up for competition
By Anika Gupta [e-mail] August 22, 2007

A large independent federal employee union said Wednesday that it is prepared to go to Congress to fight a Food and Drug Administration move to consider contracting out more than 300 jobs.

The National Treasury Employees Union "is looking at every possible angle to prevent the contracting out of these jobs," said Colleen Kelley, the union's president. "NTEU will keep members of Congress informed about the contracting out efforts."

Kelley said her organization, which represents about 5,000 FDA employees, had made contact with lawmakers in response to an earlier FDA proposal to shut down more than half of its laboratories nationwide. The plan came to a halt partly due to congressional pressure.

The recent restructuring identifies 332 positions as "commercial," which means the work legitimately could be contracted out to the private sector under existing regulations. The FDA announced on July 12 that it will conduct 13 studies in three overlapping rounds, intended to find out whether contractors could more efficiently perform the work.

The union has opposed the move from the start. "It is a disgrace that given the recent crises we have experienced with our food supply and other imports that FDA would entertain the idea of outsourcing this work," said Kelley, who characterized the studies being undertaken as "contracting just for the sake of contracting."

Despite the union's early opposition, the FDA has yet to determine whether any of the jobs will be contracted out, and the agency has stated a commitment to counseling employees through the process.

FULL story at link.