Rep. Goldman, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, Other Lawmakers Request Investigation of Army Corps Office Relocations That Harms IFPTE Local 98 Members' Work, Result in Workforce Attrition

Late last week, Congressman Dan Goldman, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and several other lawmakers in the New York delegation requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) decision to relocate the agency’s offices out of New York City complies with legal and regulatory obligations and authorities. Read the press release from Rep. Goldman's office here.

In response to the request, IFPTE sent letters to the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the authorization committees responsible for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to urge that they tell USACE to pause all efforts to relocate agency offices away from New York City until a Congressional request for a GAO investigation on the office relocations is fulfilled. 

IFPTE Local 98 members working at the USACE New York District in Lower Manhattan and at the North Atlantic Division in Brooklyn would be directly impacted by these office relocations, as would residents, businesses, communities, and anyone or interest that counts on the infrastructure and projects that Local 98 members work on. Learn more about IFPTE Local 98's campaign to "Keep NY in NY" on the Local 98 website.

IFPTE's letter to key lawmakers notes that "The USACE-proposed relocations will not generate meaningful savings, as it will result in a loss of millions of taxpayer dollars due to lease payments going to a private lessor instead of being returned to government coffers. The current offices are in a federally owned facility where lease payments remain within the federal government."

IFPTE's letter explains that, "Relocating NAN and NAD outside New York City would undermine mission effectiveness... The current locations provide direct access to federal, state, and local partners, including emergency management agencies, transportation authorities, and municipal governments that are essential to project delivery and disaster response." IFPTE also shared with lawmakers the information that Local 98 gathered from the membership and colleagues at the USACE New York offices:

"The relocation is expected to cause substantial workforce attrition among highly specialized engineers, scientists, planners, and project managers. A survey conducted by IFPTE Local 98, representing non-supervisory NAN and NAD employees, indicates that a significant portion of the workforce would consider leaving federal service if the office is moved outside Manhattan – with 65% of those surveyed who live in Long Island, 69% of those in Queens, and 33% of those in Brooklyn intending to quit if their office is moved to New Jersey; and 40% of those New Jersey intending to quit if USACE relocates further into New York State."

Read IFPTE's telling House and Senate lawmakers to tell USACE leadership to stop the costly and harmful relocation of its New York offices and allow GAO to respond to the Congressional request to investigate USACE's office relocations.

Read the Congressional GAO request lead by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY10), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and signed by Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY04), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY13), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY07), Grace Meng (D-NY06), Tom Suozzi (D-NY03), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY12), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY09).