Union Says Red Flags Raised For Workforce

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy notified FAA headquarters staff employees spread among six locations in Washington, D.C. that they’ll be relocating to the department’s building in the southeastern area of the city. Officials of the union, however, have raised concerns about the plan’s reasonableness and said the workforce was not notified in a timely manner.

Duffy said the consolidation would be accomplished gradually and timelines would be shared “in the coming weeks.” Meanwhile, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford wrote an email to staff that the timing for each office’s relocation would be finalized soon.

Secretary Duffy wrote in a memo, “For decades, the FAA has been housed under a patchwork of federal buildings separate from the rest of the Department of Transportation. Over the years, this dislocation has created unnecessary complexities between the department and the agency. This distance has made responsiveness, accountability and transparency a challenge.

“We will work more effectively when we’re together, rather than spread across six different office locations. This consolidation will reduce costs, enable more in-person collaboration and ultimately strengthen our safety culture.”

Dan Ronneberg, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees local 1653 representing FAA headquarters workers, said the union was not given advance notice of the relocation. “I'm not sure what continued collaboration looks like because I haven't seen any collaboration yet,” he said.

The union filed complaints with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The union also estimates that about 5,000 employees would be impacted by the relocations. Ronneberg said he’s not sure where all those people would go since the DOT headquarters is pretty full already.

“Where all of those people are going to go, I don't know, unless they put them in the hallways or stack them up in the atrium or whatever,” said Ronneberg.

Ronneberg is concerned that there will be reductions in force, and Duffy has already said there would be RIFs, but the number of employees impacted will depend on how many participate in the deferred resignation program, designed to incentivize separations before layoffs occur.

FMI:  www.transportation.gov/