Contracted employees working within the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Global Health have begun the process of forming a union.
The labor organizing effort includes staff on the Global Health Training, Advisory, and Support Contract — or GHTASC — who make up roughly 60% of USAID’s global health bureau workforce of more than 700. These “institutional support contractors” — or ISCs — are employed by private companies, but work alongside and perform many of the same functions as U.S. government employees. This appears to be the first time institutional contractors at USAID have sought to unionize.
In 2022, as they were transitioning to GHTASC from a previous contract, many of these contractors complained about poor transparency and inferior benefits. As Devex reported at the time, several of them organized a coordinated sick-out in protest of the situation, leading to a confrontation with the agency’s human resources department.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
