Morale Eroded in Federal Lands Workforce; New Administration, Policies Could Change Employees’ Outlook
Thursday, March 19, 2009
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Randy Erwin, NFFE Legislative
Director Phone: (202)
257-0948 Washington,
D.C. – Employee representatives of
federal land management agencies delivered
testimony today before a House
Subcommittee on Capitol Hill concerning how to
turn around low employee morale in federal
agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, Park
Service, and Bureau of Land
Management. Employee
representatives argued that morale eroded
during the Bush Administration because federal
land management agencies tended to act
unilaterally on major initiatives, failing to
get input—and therefore buy-in—from agency
workers. “How did we
get to this point?” Ron Thatcher, NFFE Forest
Service Council President, asked rhetorically
in his oral testimony. “In
every case, we hear the same thing: leadership
didn’t ask the field. We believe it is time for
a new way. It is self-evident that front-line
employees are the ones who know the best way to
get their jobs done. We need to tap into this
collective wisdom. To make the best decisions,
the agency needs to engage employees as
advisors, even as
collaborators.” Even as
agency workers vented to members of the
Subcommittee, they left lawmakers with a sense
that morale in land management agencies might
soon be on the mend. “I want to
leave you with the genuine sense of optimism I
feel going forward,” said Elaine Downing, out
of the California Bureau of Land
Management. “I, and many other employees
at BLM, have a strong belief that our work
environment will soon improve. We
strongly support the efforts of President Obama
and Secretary Salazar to bring fairness,
integrity and accountability back into the
Department of Interior.”
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Established in 1917, the
National Federation of Federal Employees is the
oldest union representing civil service federal
employees. NFFE currently represents
100,000 federal employees
government-wide. NFFE is affiliated with
the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers. For more information, go to
www.nffe.org.