The deadline to shutter operations at Beltsville Agricultural Center (BARC) loomed large this month. On September 1, a federal judge declined to rule for an injunction on the reorganization of BARC, finding it wasn’t relevant to the initial case. However, on September 8, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), along with a coalition of others, including Prince George’s County, filed a new dedicated lawsuit to challenge the restructuring — AFGE et al. v. USDA et al. Last week, on Monday, September 14, a federal judge issued a stay. For many employees that means a pause on instructions to report to a new location by October 5. The stay is in effect until October 2 and another court hearing is scheduled for September 29.
We have withheld the names of the BARC employees we spoke with for this article to protect them from retaliation for speaking to the press. They are identified by their type of position instead.
New Instructions
On Tuesday of last week, the day after the stay, an email obtained by the News Review advised BARC employees how to proceed. Those who have already moved or who are in transit are not required to return. Those with “approved relocation orders” or “financially binding arrangements” such as realtor contracts, signed purchase agreements or leases or who have received a lump sum to relocate, can proceed if they wish, though it is “completely voluntary,” said the email.
For all others, their deadlines to accept reassignments and relocations have been paused. The processing of separations that are based on the reorganization was also paused, according to the email, which was unsigned but came from REE.Reorganization@usda.gov. For those already separated, leave and severance processing would continue, it stated.
One Greenbelt scientist we spoke with had already submitted his intent to retire early rather than relocate. That’s now paused and could be reversed, depending on the outcome of the court case. “If there’s still a campus” he could see himself continuing his work for a couple more years, he told the News Review. For others whose resignations and retirements have already been processed, though, or who accepted other jobs, the stay comes too late.
The Pause
Two Greenbelters working at BARC with whom we spoke had previously been instructed to report to new locations by October 5 to continue in their positions. One had been given a reassignment that was later retracted when facilities at the new location were found not adequate. For those with October 5 report dates, the final day to decline to move is the Friday before, which is October 2, the same day the stay expires, one scientist noted to the News Review. Initially, the pause until October 2 wouldn’t make much of a difference for those that had to make a decision by that date, he said, though it would for a group that had to leave on September 21. A longer reprieve was hoped for but not confirmed by time of press. “It seems like something’s in the works in terms of a pause until October 30,” reports the scientist, from information based on a meeting with managers on Friday.
Institutional Loss
If the longer stay is confirmed, this will change not only the report date, which is no longer expected to be October 5 for those we spoke with, but is also expected to change the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payout (VSIP) deadline from October 2 to October 30. That is the deadline many have been waiting for if they don’t plan to move, and it seems most don’t. The union advised employees to initially accept reassignments while challenges played out in court. The scientist we spoke with said less than a quarter of his remaining team planned to move when the time came and that the team itself is less than half of what it once was.
There are big consequences for institutional knowledge and research. The Greenbelt scientist said the loss “cuts across different fields,” and he’s concerned about how people will be trained in the new location when people previously leading projects apprenticed for years before taking them over.
Morale is not great, he says. People are packing offices, labs are quiet and cleaned up. “Everything’s kind of already been packed away, or thrown away, put in the hallway or tagged to send off,” he told the News Review. They have cleared out spaces, samples and freezers, and equipment is tagged to ship. They’re trying to archive things and save just what’s really needed, he said. “There’s definitely still a lot to do but it definitely looks like it’s a moving scene, not a working scene, right now.”
It’s hard because some people who specialize in one thing aren’t going, explains the scientist. “Just in our lab alone, there’ll be a huge break in the research where certain projects just won’t be continued.”
“Even if the orders are reversed, they accomplished a lot [toward shutting down BARC],” said a Greenbelt research technician. “It’ll be a matter of what gets restored. The transition team said it will be a long time to clean things up regardless of what happens; a matter of years, if not decades,” he told the News Review.
Hope
Despite the damage, while a complete decommissioning was imminent just over a week ago, there’s now some hope for the future. The scientist we spoke with is more optimistic about the future after the judge took the case seriously. He doesn’t believe they will maintain the campus at anything close to full capacity “but I think we’re all kind of hopeful that there’s a chance that people who have hung on and some of the labs will find a home here. But that would take kind of a miracle because that would take the administration to buy into that, too, not just another court case,” he said, because the decisions can be appealed and the Supreme Court may side with the administration. “There’s a little bit of hope after last week. I think most of us two weeks ago were like, that’s it, we’ve used every chance we have and it’s time to start planning other jobs and retirements. And a lot of people have left for other jobs.”
“I think there’s an air of optimism for most,” said the research technician, but “not many here,” he added.
“I wish we knew more, tangibly,” said the Greenbelt scientist. “There have been a lot of meetings but a lot of the hard questions haven’t been answered.”
Now the BARC employees wait for more information from management, the union and the hearing on September 29.
