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Washington, D.C. — After helping turn back an ill-advised effort by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to close more than half its laboratories, FDA employees have now, in addition, won the first four of 13 planned public-private competitions for their jobs.

While welcoming—and not being at all surprised by—the result of the outsourcing competitions, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) again sharply criticized the FDA for even considering turning over some of its work to the private sector.

“It has long been clear,” she said, “that no one can do the work of the federal government as well as trained, dedicated and accountable federal employees.”

At the same time, and as she did when the FDA announced in August that it would subject more than 330 positions in eight different agency organizations to potential outsourcing, the NTEU leader attacked the agency’s outsourcing study plan, especially in light of the spate of recent food safety issues. NTEU is calling on FDA to abandon plans to conduct the remaining studies.

“Rather than undercut employee morale by putting their jobs at risk,” Kelley said, “this agency needs to be much more concerned about having the staff, resources and leadership it needs to meet its vital missions on behalf of the American people. There is clear evidence those missions are at risk.”

She noted, too, that key members of Congress also were highly-critical of the FDA’s announcement that it would consider turning over work to the private sector. An August letter from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and chairman of its subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, respectively, made the point forcefully in a letter to the FDA commissioner.

The two lawmakers wrote: “Given the recent crises in our food supply and dangerous imports, it is baffling that the FDA believes it can better protect the American public by contracting out work to the private sector.”

Thanks in large part to the efforts of Chairmen Dingell and Stupak, and a concerted campaign by NTEU, the FDA has dropped its plan to close of seven of its 13 laboratories.

Still, President Kelley said she worries about the impact on employee morale of these combined actions. “On top of the threat of the lab closures,” she said, “these employees did not need to receive notices that their jobs were under consideration for outsourcing.”

She added: “It is particularly demoralizing at a time when it is clear that we need a strong FDA. The agency’s employees deserve our appreciation for the manner in which they are dealing with the various food safety crises that have rightly frightened people across the country.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including some 5,200 in the FDA.