Employees turn their back on Agriculture secretary over being relocated to Kansas City
(CNN)Employees from two Department of Agriculture research agencies stood and turned their backs to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at an all-hands meeting Thursday to silently protest a decision to relocate the agencies halfway across the country.
Perdue announced earlier Thursday morning that the Economic Research Service, which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which allocates federal research funding, will be relocated to Kansas City from Washington, DC, the final announcement in a process that began last year.
The department says the move will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, but many employees view the change as politically driven and a way to disrupt climate research and other work their bosses disagree with. Both agencies recently voted overwhelmingly to unionize to push back against the move.
Perdue announced the final relocation site in a letter that was distributed to employees Thursday morning. Perdue and the department have argued that the move will lower standard of living costs, save taxpayer dollars and move the agencies closer to "stakeholders."
"Following a rigorous site selection process, the Kansas City Region provides a win win -- maximizing our mission function by putting taxpayer savings into programmatic outputs and providing affordability, easy commutes, and extraordinary living for our employees," Perdue said. "The Kansas City Region has proven itself to be hub for all things agriculture and is a booming city in America's heartland.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/13/politics/usda-employees-relocated-kansas-city-perdue/index.html
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for them! 
