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Washington, D.C.-Nearly 70 professional field office employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), including auditors, chemists and other scientists, have voted overwhelmingly to be represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). They join more than 750 other ATF employees already represented by NTEU.

Union President Colleen M. Kelley said she welcomes the strong support for NTEU---44 of the eligible 67 field office professionals voted for NTEU and only four against the union--and called it "evidence that NTEU is providing the kind of representation ATF employees need, want and deserve."

ATF is an agency of the Treasury Department. The newly-organized field professional employees will be represented by the NTEU chapter currently serving ATF employees in their area of the country. There are eight such chapters, reaching from Massachusetts to Oregon.

Kelley noted that these professionals join other ATF employees represented by NTEU "who perform a wide range of vital services related to public safety," including ballistics and other testing, inspections, analyses of a variety of incidents involving firearms and explosives, and complete administrative and support services. ATF is headquartered in Fredericksburg, Va,

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 155,000 employees in 26 agencies. and departments. Increasingly in recent years, NTEU has been successful in organizing professional employees throughout the federal workplace, including thousands of scientists, doctors and other professionals in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).