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In the News recently is a directive by the Trump Administration to transfer Federal Employees who currently work in the Washington DC area to other cities. Some employees of the Agriculture Department are being forced to move to Kansas City and employees in the Interior Department will be forced to move to a wide variety of smaller towns in Rocky Mountain States.
Of course, the media reports that the federal employees are not happy about this and are trying to find new jobs so they won't have to move. If they refuse to move they will be laid off and could lose thousands in pension and other compensation and maybe lose their career because their jobs are not found in other cities.
If your Federal Agency told you to keep your job, you would have to accept a transfer to another city, and leave your home, church, school, friends, and family, what would you do?
I would not move to Kansas City. There's so many places I wouldn't move to. And if I did, it would be temporary until it was back in a major urban city or to the South.
It'd have to be a major city like LA, SF, Boston, NYC.....
Otherwise, I rather go back to my own mid-sized city where I am from or the region I'm from
Here is an interesting article about this topic. From the sounds of it, Trump wants to move a large number of federal employees who are here now, out west.
Maybe, but that's mostly because I love my job, we don't have kids, and my husband is kind of itching to try out a different city (he grew up here and wants something new). It would depend on where they're moving to and if he could get a job there as well.
There are a lot of factors here. A couple divisions within my Agency are being moved to Huntsville, Al. A lot of the employees are upset because those who are refusing are being forced out or to take an early retirement. Those who are moving aren't getting any relocation assistance. There is a reduction in pay because making $80-100K in DC area is too much for the Alabama area. My unit isn't moving at this time but it may go in the future.
But here is where I can see a positive in the situation albeit a small positive. Most folks in the cities tend to vote democrat. For example, Va is mostly a republican state in the rural areas but the wealthiest area which is Northern Virginia and Va beach/Norfolk area tend to vote democrat. So moving these employees can change the make up of the political standing of a state. Those states that are solidly Republican will slowly change.
So in a nutshell there are so many variables that an answer wouldn't be cut and dry. Each person would have their own financial and family situation to deal with and based on my Agency, doesn't seem like they would compensate for the forced move. However, I would love to move to Huntsville, Al but my home situation would not allow it. Im divorce and share custody with the ex husband. He would not approve of the move because he would have to travel at least 12-14 hours to visit the kids or we would have to spend money to fly them back and forth. My one child is in senior in high school and has plans to attend college in our current state and moving would consider her to be an out of state student. Higher tuition cost. I already have two kids in state college. One still lives at home with me. My youngest in middle school and is in a cheerleading competition team. She is already established here. Then buying and selling a home and all other financial issues that goes with possibly maintaining a mortgage and renting. All my family is born and raised here. I would no one in Alabama. No familial support. Yes, I can make friends but new friends would not have an intimate knowledge of me nor my kids. So there would be a trust issue there for awhile. No one is going to be instant friends and help out. Also Im a minority, so Alabama is not the pinnacle of a friendly place for minorities no matter what folks say in Huntsville. Alabama is a big state and with its history is pretty questionable on how welcoming they would receive my family.
Sigh! Now if I was single, I would have no problem moving.
If I had to move to keep my job, then I would move. Not much of a choice there. But I would travel frequently to the east coast, because it will always be home for me.
And of course, once I retire I would move back here as well. I am not really all that interested in living in a part of the United States that is more than 100 miles from DC-NYC.
If I had to move to keep my job, then I would move. Not much of a choice there.
I don't really know much about the BLM, but the ERS at USDA is generally highly regarded, so the choice is more "move or get a new job," as I could see many of them getting hired fairly easy at other agencies, think tanks, or even the private sector. Considering all the people I saw who fled the BEA when they moved to Suitland, I'd expect to see many in ERS choose to stay in the area and just find another job. Particularly since the general feeling is that they're getting moved because they're a bunch of economists/scientists who wouldn't tell the administration what they want to hear. In that sort of atmosphere I'd avoid moving, too.
In general I'm not particularly opposed to some government functions being decentralized away from DC and spread across the country. My main issue is that I generally don't have faith that such a restructuring would be done properly (under any administration, but particularly not this one), so the actual result would be that those agencies unlucky enough to move would lose staff, resources, and impact, and just overall get sidelined.
Particularly since the general feeling is that they're getting moved because they're a bunch of economists/scientists who wouldn't tell the administration what they want to hear.
Yep, that's what it's all about. They can't be fired like White House staff, so they're being forced out by other means.
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