Legislative Week

IFPTE recently held our annual Legislative Week in Washington, DC, and we (as your fellow USACE employees) took to the halls of Congress to advocate for your interests. IFPTE local leaders representing USACE employees met with Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA), Rep. Frank Mrvan (IN), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI). We also met with the staff members for Sen. Laphonza Butler (CA), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Sen. Tom Carper (DE), Sen. Ed Markey (MA), Sen. Alex Padilla (CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Sen. Ron Wyden (OR), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY), Rep. Sam Graves (MO), Rep. Jared Huffman (CA), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA), Rep. Mike Quigley (IL), Rep. Chris Smith (NJ), Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY), and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Our advocacy covered issues such as increasing Federal-worker pay (which has not kept up with inflation), eliminating FERS tiers (which force Federal employees hired after 2013 to pay extra, with no additional benefits), protecting against arbitrary restrictions on telework, and protecting the jobs of USACE lock operators and park rangers, among other issues.
If you’d like to learn more about the union’s efforts to advocate on behalf of your interests with USACE, the Administration, and/or Congress (or if you’d like to share your own ideas on how we can advocate most effectively), contact your local union rep.