Meat inspection furloughs months away, Vilsack says
March 05, 2013 | 08:29 PM
The Agriculture Department will not begin sequester-related furloughs of meat inspectors for several months and will concentrate them in the last quarter of the fiscal year that ends September 30, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today.
In testimony before the House Agriculture Committee, Vilsack said that the furloughs will be delayed because the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s contract with the inspectors’ union has certain rules related to furloughs. The contract requires that each inspector be personally notified that furloughs will take place and not all inspectors have email, which means those notifications must be hand-delivered, Vilsack said.
The inspectors must have 30 days notice and alo have the right to a personal interview about the furlough, Vilsack added.
FSIS now expects that each inspector will be furloughed for 11 to 12 days, rather than the 15 days USDA had indicated earlier, and the delay will not affect the number of furlough days, Vilsack said.
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, told Vilsack “I am not concerned about the negotiations with the labor unions, I am concerned with those who are growing the food,” but Vilsack replied that the FSIS is legally obligated to follow the contract.
Neugebauer also asked why Vilsack had not started negotiating earlier with the unions, but Vilsack said he did not have that authority until President Barack Obama signed the order implementing the law last Friday.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., acknowledged during the hearing that USDA does not have the flexibility to move money from other accounts to keep meat inspectors on the job, but said that his committee is willing to work with the appropriators to try to pass legislation to give USDA that flexibility. But he said that the Obama administration has not provided Congress with any assistance to write that legislation.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told reporters today that the furlough of meat inspectors “won’t happen.” Roberts said he expects the problem to be fixed before the furloughs would start.
In response to a question from Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., Vilsack said that the furloughs would not affect food safety because meat, poultry and egg products cannot be sold if they have not been inspected.
But he added that the sequester could affect products that are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, since foods under FDA’s jurisdiction do not have to be inspected to be sold.
In testimony before the House Agriculture Committee, Vilsack said that the furloughs will be delayed because the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s contract with the inspectors’ union has certain rules related to furloughs. The contract requires that each inspector be personally notified that furloughs will take place and not all inspectors have email, which means those notifications must be hand-delivered, Vilsack said.
The inspectors must have 30 days notice and alo have the right to a personal interview about the furlough, Vilsack added.
FSIS now expects that each inspector will be furloughed for 11 to 12 days, rather than the 15 days USDA had indicated earlier, and the delay will not affect the number of furlough days, Vilsack said.
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, told Vilsack “I am not concerned about the negotiations with the labor unions, I am concerned with those who are growing the food,” but Vilsack replied that the FSIS is legally obligated to follow the contract.
Neugebauer also asked why Vilsack had not started negotiating earlier with the unions, but Vilsack said he did not have that authority until President Barack Obama signed the order implementing the law last Friday.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., acknowledged during the hearing that USDA does not have the flexibility to move money from other accounts to keep meat inspectors on the job, but said that his committee is willing to work with the appropriators to try to pass legislation to give USDA that flexibility. But he said that the Obama administration has not provided Congress with any assistance to write that legislation.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told reporters today that the furlough of meat inspectors “won’t happen.” Roberts said he expects the problem to be fixed before the furloughs would start.
In response to a question from Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., Vilsack said that the furloughs would not affect food safety because meat, poultry and egg products cannot be sold if they have not been inspected.
But he added that the sequester could affect products that are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, since foods under FDA’s jurisdiction do not have to be inspected to be sold.
