Posts in Infrastructure
Local 147 Attends Commerce Department CHIPs Act Announcement

Local 147 leaders Jerry Bouchard and Mike Croll attended an event in Malta, New York on Tuesday hosted by the United States Commerce Department to announce the $1.5 billion in funding upstate New York to expand and create new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to securely produce more essential chips for automotive, IoT, aerospace, defense, and other vital markets. 

Read More
IFPTE, AFT, JWJ, TVA Meet to Discuss STEM Jobs Training Center

Officers and staff from IFPTE, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Jobs with Justice (JWJ), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) came together for two days of meetings in Chattanooga this week to discuss the coalition’s ongoing efforts to stand up a training center for STEM workers.

Read More
SPEEA’s Rich Plunkett and Brandon Anderson Attend First Aerospace Supply Chain Resiliency (ASCR) Task Force Meeting

SPEEA/IFPTE Local 2001’s Director of Strategic Development, Rich Plunkett, and Legislative Director, Brandon Anderson, traveled to Washington, DC this week to attend the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) first Aerospace Supply Chain Resilience (ASCR) task force. 

Read More
IFPTE Participates in Senate Forum Regarding AI’s Impact on National Defense and Homeland Security

IFPTE President, Matt Biggs, was one of twenty-one panelists who participated in a bipartisan forum this week hosted by Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Todd Young (R-IN).  The forum is the ninth of a series of Senate forums held this year to examine Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on all facets of society. 

Read More
IFPTE Continues to Fight Against Army Corps of Engineers Efforts to Operate Federal Hydroelectric and Navigational Lock and Dam Facilities without Onsite Personnel

Despite IFPTE’s urging Congress over the last two years to put a stop to efforts by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to replace on-site workers at hydroelectric and navigational lock and dam facilities with remote operation, the USACE doubled down in mid-July by issuing a directive that stipulates that, “USACE will establish a unified, consistent, national lock & dam remote operation program.” 

Read More
IFPTE Shares Positions on NDAA Amendments Ahead of House Rules Committee's Consideration

On Friday, the House passed the NDAA without the customary strong bipartisan support that the NDAA has received in years past. The House bill passed with several troubling amendments that would cut health services for armed service members and defund numerous DoD components and civilian positions related to diversity, without considering the impacts.

Read More
TEAM-Local 161 and the CCPA Release Study, "For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Privatization of Manitoba Telecom Services and its Impacts"

On June 20, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), TEAM - IFPTE Local 161 held a press conference announcing the release chronicling how the privatisation of MTS, once an engine of the Manitoba economy, has resulted in significant job loss, poor rural and northern phone service, and high rates.

Read More
IFPTE Requests Congress Pass the Bipartisan Debt Limit and Budget Legislation

While IFPTE requested Members of the House and Senate vote to pass this bill in order to prevent a U.S. debt default, IFPTE’s letter to Representatives made clear that this bill “will implement unnecessary two-year spending caps that constrains Congress's ability to fund programs, services, and investments that are necessary to support working families and our nation’s economic competitiveness.”

Read More
While White House and Congress Works to Avoid Disastrous Debt Default, IFPTE President Biggs Shares Grave Concerns for Economy, Workers, and IFPTE Members' Jobs

IFPTE President Matthew Biggs spoke to the Kansas City Star and the Washington Post this week to express the union’s grave concerns about the fallout a U.S. debt default would cause across the American and global economies.

Read More
Bell MTS Fails to Live Up to Their Promises - TEAM/Local 161 Urges Manitoba Lawmakers to Hold Them Accountable

On May 15, TEAM/IFPTE Local 161’s Board of Directors traveled to the Manitoba Legislative Building to meet with the Opposition Labour Critic Malaya Marcelino and Opposition Environment & Economic Development Critic Mark Wasyliw to discuss the ongoing erosion of good unionized jobs at Bell MTS.

Read More