This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 65 of our affiliates. Next up is the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
Name of Union: International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
Mission: Committed to achieving a real voice in the workplace for professional and technical workers through organizing, thereby increasing union density among professionals and building our collective strength. Using the legislative process, we strive to raise the standards by which professional and technical employees live and work by joining together in solidarity.
Current Leadership of Union: Matthew Biggs serves as international president of IFPTE and was unanimously elected and re-elected at the union’s 60th and 61st conventions, respectively. Prior to being elected president, Biggs was elected IFPTE’s secretary-treasurer and served as the union’s legislative and political director. Biggs’ career at IFPTE has focused on grassroots coordination with the union’s locals aimed at growing the IFPTE Political Action Committee, establishing the long-running annual IFPTE legislative advocacy week, and a concentrated legislative program aimed at preserving and growing union-represented jobs in IFPTE-represented industries such as aerospace, energy, science and defense.
Gay Henson serves as secretary-treasurer of IFPTE. IFPTE’s executive council is composed of the international president, secretary-treasurer and 15 regional vice presidents elected by the members to represent their respective areas. John Mader is IFPTE’s executive vice president and Western area vice president. IFPTE’s other vice presidents are Katie Barrows (Southeast), Rebecca Caron (Canadian), John Dimas (SPEEA), Benjamin Emmel (Eastern Federal), Frances Hsieh (Western), R. Matthew Joyce (SPEEA), Joan Mah (Western), Richard Mahé (Canadian), Sean P. McBride (Atlantic), Steven Pinto (Atlantic), Denise Robinson (Northeastern), Ryan Rule (SPEEA), Jamie Uyeunten (Western Federal) and Julian Ware (Western).
Current Number of Members: 90,000
Members Work As: Engineers, scientists, technicians, health care professionals, auditors, drafters/designers, judges, lawyers, researchers, toll collectors and more.
Industries Represented: Federal, public, private and nonprofit sectors in the United States, and public, private and nonprofit sectors in Canada.
History: The story of IFPTE officially began on July 1, 1918, when the American Federation of Labor granted a charter to the International Federation of Draftsmen’s Unions (IFDU). The union was formed from 10 federal unions representing engineers, draftsmen and technicians, and was the first labor organization dedicated to the welfare of technical engineering employees. At its second convention in 1919, IFDU extended its jurisdiction to include other crafts and changed its name to the International Federation of Technical Engineers, Architects, and Draftsmen’s Unions (IFTEA&DU). The union continued to grow for almost two decades as municipal, county and state government employees sought affiliation. In 1950, delegates to the 28th convention voted to change the union’s name to the American Federation of Technical Engineers (AFTE).
After almost a half-century of exclusively representing professionals in the United States, the union became international in 1953 with the affiliation of locals in Ontario. Today, IFPTE has four local unions and more than 12,000 members throughout Canada. In 1972, delegates to the 40th convention voted to change the union’s name to the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. IFPTE celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson and Engineering Association (EA/IFPTE Local 1937) President Anthony Chorney lead IFPTE’s fight against rumored interest by the Trump administration to consider privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Henson attended a TVA board meeting in August along with Chorney, EA/IFPTE member David Littlejohn and community allies, and testified to board members that, “Selling TVA to a profit-making entity would have disastrous consequences for the region, TVA customers, TVA’s beautiful and well-cared for natural resources, the region’s economic growth and every single person who lives and works in the Valley.” Henson and members of other TVA unions discussed this issue in August on the Valley Labor Report defending the TVA as a public utility that serves the region, provides good jobs for the valley, and keeps electricity rates affordable.