DOD Moves to End Collective Bargaining
IFPTE warns it “weakens our national security”, urges Republican-led
Senate Appropriations Committee to “defund this union-busting”
WASHINGTON, DC – The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), representing 90,000 workers across North America, including thousands employed by the Department of Defense (DOD), issued the following statements in response Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth’s, union-busting directive.
President Matt Biggs: “In yet another assault on our nation’s civil servants, including thousands in the state of Maine, the Department of Defense has issued an order canceling the long-established collective bargaining and representational rights of its workers. While this action is deplorable on its face, its harm to the livelihoods of Mainers is exacerbated by the fact that Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the all-powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and having full control over the drafting of appropriations measures, could have blocked it during last year’s appropriations cycle, but instead chose a course of inaction. In fact, months before this anti-worker action, IFPTE joined a coalition of federal unions calling on Chair Collins to ‘step in and exercise Congress’s power of the purse by defunding the implementation of many of the illegal acts being promulgated by the Trump Administration.’ Unfortunately, Susan Collins has still not responded to that request, and Mainers are suffering for it.”
“There is another opportunity, however, to defund this union-busting as part of the current Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations cycle and IFPTE is hopeful that this latest attack on federal Unions, including those at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, will prompt Senator Collins to end the Trump Administration’s union-busting through adding defund language in each and every funding measure, including the defense measure.”
Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson: “The cancelling of union rights for civil servants who work in the defense sector harms not only those whose rights are violated, it also weakens our national security and our military’s preparedness at a time when we are at war. From its founding in 1918, during the height of America’s involvement in World War I, IFPTE and its members have worked in collaboration with all branches of the military to support those in uniform in a reliable, timely and professional manner. This action weakens that strong commitment to our shared principles. And, while IFPTE members may not be impacted by this order today due to a court injunction, we stand in solidarity with every union sister and brother whose rights are being violated and call on Senator Collins to step up and fight for her constituents.”
IFPTE represents upwards of 34,000 federal workers, including thousands in Kittery, Maine, and is fighting in both the Courts and on Capitol Hill to restore all collective bargaining rights for federal workers.
###