Current and Former IFPTE Members Advocate for Repairing Talent Pipeline for NASA and Supporting Strategic Workforce Capacities

GESTA/IFPTE Local 29 leaders and members were on Capitol Hill this week to meet with Congressional offices and discuss the need for Congress to support NASA’s talent pipeline, advance policies that enable long term talent retention, and make sure federal hiring practices are not wasting the resources, time, and commitment that agencies and early career employees have invested.

The group included former NASA employees who recently left the civil service because they were term-limited employees with specialized knowledge and skills who were not offered permanent positions.  NASA Pathway interns, who develop technical expertise during their internship and support key NASA missions while continuing their studies, shared how NASA is failing to reliably offer permanent positions once they graduate, even though that is the point of the program.

In addition to highlighting the impacts and harm to mission capabilities, the delegation highlighted that Congress needs to play a role in providing oversight and legislation so that NASA and other agencies are building a highly capable workforce with the early career talent they’ve recruited and invested in.