During the month of June, IFPTE celebrates PRIDE Month. We honour our Union Sisters and Brothers whose leadership and solidarity continue to strengthen the labor movement across Canada and the United States. As part of PRIDE Month, the AFL-CIO is profiling leaders from throughout the labor movement. Let’s honor our Siblings by viewing a profile each day of PRIDE Month!
IFPTE Efforts to Defeat Pro-Contracting NDAA Amendment Successful
IFPTE successfully worked last week to defeat legislation sponsored by South Carolina Representative, Nancy Mace, that would have lifted the moratorium on Department of Defense (DOD) A-76 competitions to determine whether federal work is appropriate for outsourcing and privatization. Congresswoman Mace’s misguided effort, which came during the House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) consideration of the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would have resulted in the loss of DOD federal civilian jobs to the private sector, likely including IFPTE- represented jobs.
IFPTE Urges “Yes” Vote on Faster Labor Contracts Act, Celebrates Bipartisan House Passage of Labor Law Bill
This week, IFPTE sent a letter to all Members of the House of Representatives urging them to vote in support of the pro-union bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act (H.R. 5408), championed by Democratic Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ) and Republican Congressman Pete Stauber (MN). The legislation, which was brought to the a House floor vote through a discharge petition process where a majority of House members supported the bill, against opposition from the House Speaker, would guarantee workers who organize unions to achieve a first contract through binding arbitration.
TEAM Local 161 Members ‘Take-a-Break’
Members and staff of TEAM/IFPTE Local 161 gathered this week in Winnipeg for the unit’s annual Take-a-Break lunch events. First held in 2012, the events provide members a valuable opportunity to take a break from work, join together for a meal, and connect with one another. As usual, the events were well attended, with over 40% of the membership participating across two locations this week, and an additional event still to come at a third location next week.
IFPTE Participates in the AFL-CIO’s 30th Constitutional Convention
As a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, IFPTE showed up strong this week in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the AFL-CIO’s 30th Constitutional Convention. The four-day Convention’s theme was, “With You It’s Better in a Union,” and focused on the American labor movement’s path forward by empowering working people through grassroots membership engagement, securing strong collective agreements, and fighting back to defeat the attacks on unions from the current administration.
IFPTE Welcomes Canadian Labour Congress President, Bea Bruske, to the AFL-CIO Convention
President Matt Biggs and Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson were among the many American labor leaders to welcome our good friend and Union-Sister, Bea Bruske, to Minneapolis, Minnesota this week at the AFL-CIO’s 30th constitutional convention. President Bruske addressed convention delegates and reinforced the strong and unwavering Solidarity between the Canadian and American labour movements, welcomed remarks that received rousing support from convention delegates.
Secretary-Treasurer Henson Addresses Maritime Trades Department Convention
IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer, Gay Henson, addressed delegates last week at the AFL-CIO’s Maritime Trades Department (MTD) convention. Henson, who represents IFPTE on the MTD executive council, informed convention attendees about the unprecedented attacks on our nation’s federal employees, including the Trump Administration’s illegal elimination of collective bargaining rights for over 1 million workers, and tens of thousands of IFPTE-represented workers.
Canada’s Unions Take Concerns Over AI and Labour Rights to Global Stage
This week, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) spoke at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland calling on governments around the globe to ensure workers have a meaningful role in shaping their economic future, including artificial intelligence, while warning against efforts to weaken collective bargaining and the right to strike.
TAKE ACTION, TELL CONGRESS
IFPTE Urges Congress to Block Trump Administration from Accessing Personal Medical Data of Federal Workers
IFPTE responded this week to efforts by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to unilaterally implement a rule forcing health insurers to disclose the individualized, personal medical information of current and former federal employees to the Trump Administration. In asking both Congressional appropriators and authorizers to come together in a bipartisan way to prevent the Administration from accessing this data, IFPTE reinforced to lawmakers that, “Medical records invoke core cannons of personal, social, psychological, cultural, and religious privacy that are absolutely sacred to all Americans.” Read IFPTE’s letter to key Capitol Hill lawmakers and join IFPTE’s member mobilization letter writing campaign here.
SAVE THE DATE!!!
IFPTE 62nd Convention
Toronto, ON, Canada
July 19-22, 2027
IFPTE Local 400 