Army Corps Workers Rally Against Forced Move to New Jersey

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 98, which represents U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District (NAN) and North Atlantic Division (NAD) workers, held a press conference in front of the USACE NAN office at 26 Federal Plaza on Wednesday. IFPTE Local 98 was joined by the NYC CLC and IFPTE Local 777, which represents USACE Chicago District workers, to oppose an order by Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle to abandon USACE New York City offices and move to a commercial new space in New Jersey by the end of the year.

This decision was unexpectedly announced earlier this year to employees at the NAN and NAD, and has the potential to upend the civil office responsible for critical dredging, coastal resilience, and emergency response projects. Attempting to uproot over 400 civilian employees in a rushed relocation, according to a Union survey, would lead to 45% of New York State-based employees to leave USACE if the office were relocated to New Jersey. It was also reported that 39% of New Jersey State-based employees would leave USACE if the office is moved to Jersey City. The original memo by Telle also directly pointed to the Chicago and Los Angeles Districts as other examples where the rent is too high.

“The Army Corps has played an important role in New York City since before the nation’s founding,” says Matt Biggs, International President of IFPTE, in a statement made prior to the press conference, “The Army calls it the Cradle of the Corps. A move out of this city would rock the cradle." Watch video of the press conference here!