National President Dougan Talks the Issues with USDA Leadership
Tuesday, July 21, 2009(National Federation of Federal Employees)
Last Thursday, NFFE
National President William R. Dougan sat down
with key Department leadership at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC, to
discuss key issues affecting USDA employees
across the country.
Meeting with
Undersecretary for Natural Resources and
Environment Jay Jensen, Chief of Staff to the
USDA Secretary, John Norris, and a number of
senior policy advisors, Dougan extended a hand
of cooperation to agency leadership, urging the
development of a labor-management partnership
council, among other
issues.
“It’s the federal
employees out in the field and the offices that
are the key to accomplishing the work of USDA
and its agencies, and their interests should be
the primary consideration in any agency
decision-making,” said Dougan. “I assured them
that NFFE’s members stand ready to work with
USDA to make sure that the agency’s mission is
carried out.”
Turning his attention to
hiring practices, Dougan urged agency leaders
to end the preference of contractors over
federal employees in federal stimulus projects.
He insisted further that they put a stop to the
unfair classification of many wildland
firefighter positions, a practice which
threatens to reduce the expertise of the fire
organization and could negatively impact
employment of workers in those positions.
“Overall, the USDA
leadership was very receptive to our ideas,”
said Dougan. “They promised to keep us in the
loop on important agency initiatives and work
with us as we confront the many challenges
facing the Department and its
employees.”