# "These USDA employees face a stark choice: Move to Kansas City or be fired" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464 "2019-07-03T18:46:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/21 "2019-07-07T01:47:25Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > They don’t even have offices ready for the people who _do_ make the move. It’s completely political and stupid. I.e. par for the Trump course. Typical statement devoid of facts. Hillary is STILL not President and, Thank goodness for that. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/22 "2019-07-07T02:38:42Z")
Can’t be that bad, [considering.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X3hdFWmerQ) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/23 "2019-07-07T02:44:38Z")
I could think of worse places to relocate to than Kansas City ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/24 "2019-07-07T03:03:37Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I could think of worse places to relocate to than Kansas City When I worked with Monsanto, being promoted to district manager but being assigned to their regional office in Minot, SD, was something like replacing Michael Scott in Scranton for Dunder-Miflin. I know one up-and-coming manager whose marriage broke up in the 1980s when he was sent to earn his “international” experience in Winnipeg. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/25 "2019-07-08T16:10:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This wasn’t a Trump plan. IMHO I get the impression this has been in the works for a long time. Notice that 135 bids were reviewed. It’s been in the works for all of **one** year: [https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article216894635.html](https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article216894635.html) Note that I found this in the very article you posted. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/26 "2019-07-08T16:17:30Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > It’s been in the works for all of **one** year: > [https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article216894635.html](https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article216894635.html) > > Note that I found this in the very article you posted. Even when I turn off AdBlock and Ghostery, that page loads and then blanks itself. ETA: the whole website blanks itself right after loads a page… nice. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/27 "2019-07-08T16:21:41Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I could think of worse places to relocate to than Kansas City And I can think of better things to do than to sell my house and move my family clear across the country just to wait around doing nothing while my bosses conspire to sack me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/28 "2019-07-08T17:00:15Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I could think of worse places to relocate to than Kansas City First world places? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/29 "2019-07-08T17:00:23Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Even when I turn off AdBlock and Ghostery, that page loads and then blanks itself. > > ETA: the whole website blanks itself right after loads a page… nice. I am able to see the site okay. I do have an adblocker. \ This techie stuff is great-- when it works. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/30 "2019-07-08T18:19:56Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > \ Military spouse - mrAru was moved with pretty much no input in the matter 4 times while he was active duty, only twice did he not physically uproot the household and move, once for 18 months he lived in Portsmouth NH for a yard period, and a 14 month yard period on a different boat. Anything shorter like a 1 or 2 month school we pretty much ignored [it was like he was away on a deployment except we got to speak on the phone every day or so.] I suppose he could have tried refusing to move, but that would have ended up with a short move to Fort Leavenworth for some quality rock breaking time. I really can’t think of a more useless analogy to this situation than, “But in the military…” Most people are not in the military. Most jobs are not like military jobs. The conditions that apply there are exceptional, and anyone not working for the military would be entirely justified in being angry if their employer started treating them like they were. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/31 "2019-07-08T18:25:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > First world places? uhh…comments like this are why Trump is going to be re-elected. Even if you were only kidding…you just insulted a lotta folks. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/32 "2019-07-08T19:08:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yeah, agriculture’s overrated. We should all go back to hunting and gathering. Yes it’s sad that these people who are successfully growing/raising food in DC are now going to have to do it in Kansas City. And what will become of their DC farms? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/33 "2019-07-08T20:10:54Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > uhh…comments like this are why Trump is going to be re-elected. > > Even if you were only kidding…you just insulted a lotta folks. And the list of “reasons why Trump was/will be [re-]elected” inches closer to infinity. Feel free to pencil that one in at the end (if you can find it within your lifetime). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/34 "2019-07-08T21:54:40Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > As opposed to the private sector, which offers that choice to someone virtually every day. The federal government is doing it as an excuse to fire a large number of employees so they can gut a program. The private sector does it for [business reasons](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/nestle-to-move-us-headquarters-to-arlington-bringing-750-jobs-to-the-region/2017/02/01/0ff6ec34-e40c-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?utm_term=.aee67fadf8bf) related to the relocation. If the private sector wanted to cut staff or programs, they would just do it; they don’t have to have a fake relocation. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/35 "2019-07-09T14:14:49Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > The federal government is doing it as an excuse to fire a large number of employees so they can gut a program. The private sector does it for [business reasons](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/nestle-to-move-us-headquarters-to-arlington-bringing-750-jobs-to-the-region/2017/02/01/0ff6ec34-e40c-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?utm_term=.aee67fadf8bf) related to the relocation. If the private sector wanted to cut staff or programs, they would just do it; they don’t have to have a fake relocation. If the Federal Government just wanted close the facilities they work in and fire them it would do that. This administration wants to punish those who didn’t toe the party line, so the plan is to uproot them and ship them to a place where they have no friends or family, let them sit and spin for awhile, _then_ fire them because there is nothing whatsoever for them to do in Kansas City. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/36 "2019-07-09T17:38:33Z")
The UK government has been gradually relocating some of its civil service departments to other areas of the country for the past ten years or so. (Civil service basically means non-elected govt employees, so would include this sort of dept). It has caused some problems because spouses and children can’t always relocate, but that’s why it’s gradual. I think there’s also some help with relocation costs and possible reassignment to other departments that aren’t relocating. It’s generally grudgingly accepted by the employees. It does make sense for the govt to move some of its departments to cheaper locations, but doing it this quickly? That’s ridiculous. Apart from the disruption to existing employees, it sounds practically impossible to relocate such a large dept to a new location in three months. It’s very much not like the military where moving is expected and accommodation and schooling support is provided. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/37 "2019-07-09T17:43:24Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > The UK government has been gradually relocating some of its civil service departments to other areas of the country for the past ten years or so. (Civil service basically means non-elected govt employees, so would include this sort of dept). It has caused some problems because spouses and children can’t always relocate, but that’s why it’s gradual. I think there’s also some help with relocation costs and possible reassignment to other departments that aren’t relocating. It’s generally grudgingly accepted by the employees. > > It does make sense for the govt to move some of its departments to cheaper locations, but doing it this quickly? That’s ridiculous. Apart from the disruption to existing employees, it sounds practically impossible to relocate such a large dept to a new location in three months. > > It’s very much not like the military where moving is expected and accommodation and schooling support is provided. Please listen: _This isn’t being done for economical reasons-This is being done to destroy the department and punish those who worked in the department._ Please do not associate what is happening here with any business decisions you may have experienced or heard about. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/38 "2019-07-10T14:04:27Z")
I understand that. I was trying to give an example of a situation where it is down to economics, and how it’s handled then, as evidence that this is not the case here. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/39 "2019-07-16T12:57:44Z")
More of the same… although apparently no firing threat. **Interior to move more staff out west as part of larger reorganization push** > **[Interior to move most of Bureau of Land Management’s D.C. staff out west as...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/07/15/interior-move-one-fifth-bureau-land-managements-dc-staff-out-west-part-larger-reorganization-push/)** > > The Trump administration plans to move most of the Bureau of Land Management’s D.C. workforce out west, part of its broader push to shift power away from Washington and shrink the size of the federal government. > [@](#): > > The Trump administration plans to relocate most of the Bureau of Land Management’s D.C. workforce to west of the Rockies, part of its broader push to shift power away from Washington and shrink the size of the federal government. > > The proposal to move roughly 300 employees from a key Interior Department agency — among them the majority of top managers — comes as Trump officials are forcibly reassigning career officials and upending operations across the federal government. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue finalized plans this summer to move about 550 jobs at two of his department’s scientific agencies from the nation’s capital to greater Kansas City. The White House is trying to abolish the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, and has threatened to furlough as many as 150 employees if Congress blocks it. > … > > “If I wanted to dismantle an agency, this would be in my playbook,” said Steve Ellis, who retired as BLM’s deputy director in 2016 after nearly four decades in government service. In a phone interview Monday, he said that transferring so many employees out of Washington could complicate the agency’s relationship with Capitol Hill, budget officials and other federal entities. > > He noted that BLM dispatched all of its wildfire and aviation staff to Boise, Idaho, in the 1990s only to reestablish a wildland fire office in the District when lawmakers expected briefings after fires broke out in the West. > … > > In many cases, reassigned federal staffers have chosen to leave the government because they hail from two-career families or for other personal reasons. A majority of scientists and researchers at the USDA agencies slated to move to Kansas City are choosing not to move, and Perdue’s plan has been dogged by questions about its cost and the motivation behind it. > > “When you move large numbers of employees from one part of the country to another, you’re going to lose a lot of institutional knowledge,” said Ward Morrow, assistant general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union — with 530 members at BLM. > > … ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464/40 "2019-07-16T13:20:19Z")
Well duh, in most companies and government services you HAVE to move if you want to move up in the company. So if say you live in Indiana and there is a mid level management job opening in Kansas City, you move there to take it. Or say if they close your branch in Scranton Penn. you might have to move elsewhere. This is why many people rent apartments rather than own a home is because its easier to up and move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-usda-employees-face-a-stark-choice-move-to-kansas-city-or-be-fired/836464.md?page=3)