A special congratulations for all USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) employees who voted today join a union. A total of 137 from 139 employees voted in favor of joining the American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO union. That means 99% were in favor of joining the union. In addition, 75 out of 80 (94%) of professional employees voted for a mixed union. The total number of employees eligible is about 185; which means that this vote had a 75% turnout rate.

The vote to unionize comes in response to efforts by the USDA Secretary’s office to relocate USDA NIFA outside of the Washington DC beltway region. Current locations under consideration are Kansas City, MO; Research Triangle Park, NC; and multiple locations in Indiana including Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.