Our Vision

We Make a Difference

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), AFL-CIO & CLC, is a diverse labor union advocating on behalf of more than 90,000 workers in professional, technical, administrative and associated occupations in Canada and the United States.

IFPTE at a GLANCE

Our members are employed by federal, public and private employers. We balance the broad range of our members' interests by adhering to democratic processes and consensus decision-making.

Unique in representing highly educated and skilled workers, IFPTE combines the collective bargaining strength of a union with the autonomy and specialization of a professional association.

Why We Exist

We exist for the tens of thousands of professional and technical workers as a resource once they decide to organize their workplace. Our members are committed to assisting others professionals in organizing their own union with IFPTE, just as previous members helped them in gaining a voice in their workplace.

We exist to give our members an effective voice in the legislative process and issues that affect their careers and families. All of us are impacted by national and local legislation in one manner or another. Through IFPTE, our members able better to advocate to policy makers. This is not the same as being involved in party politics. We pride ourselves has being a union that focuses on the issues that concern our members, not ideology.

We exist to raise the standards of professional and technical employees. Working together our members are able to bargain with their employer to gain a contract laying their relationship moving forward to resolve difference and make improvements.

We exist so our members can join in solidarity with other professionals in the United States and Canada. By joining together with other organized employees we can share knowledge and assist each other during challenging times.

Our staff is the glue that binds our union together, and one of our defining assets. They do almost everything from organizing, contracting negotiations and enforcement, public policy, training, public relations, social media, and the list goes on.

We have a long and proud history working to assist professionals in gaining more control over their workplace and policies that impact them and their communities.

On July 1, 1918, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) granted a charter to the International Federation of Draftsmen’s Unions (IFDU), a group of ten unions representing engineers and draftsmen at several U.S. shipyards. Thus, the first labor organization, dedicated to the welfare of American technical engineering employees was born.

Today we are known as the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and we are one of the fastest growing unions within the AFL-CIO due to our commitment to help professionals like ourselves organize their own union with IFPTE. We are not only a union of engineers and technicians, today we represent all types of professionals from analysts, attorneys, scientists, and even judges.