Matt Biggs, President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, (IFPTE) joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss three significant developments.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross has, for the second consecutive year, successfully added bipartisan language to the House National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (NDAA) that would repeal an executive order from President Trump’s first term that stripped collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million federal employees, with its application limited to the Department of Defense's 770,000 workers as a must-pass bill.
Biggs also addressed the SAVE Act's voter registration provisions, which he said are designed to prevent millions of Americans from voting rather than address the extremely limited documented instances of voter fraud. Finally, he discussed a recent organizing win: approximately 200 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fisheries workers in Hawaii overwhelmingly voted for IFPTE representation, part of an organizing surge Biggs said is the strongest he has seen across the federal workforce.
- U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross successfully championed bipartisan language in the House Armed Services Committee's NDAA that would repeal an executive order from Trump’s first term that stripped collective bargaining rights from more than 1 million federal employees. The provision covers Department of Defense workers specifically as part of a must-pass bill. Biggs said an amendment by Rep. Robert Onder of Missouri to strip the Norcross language would be defeated on the House floor if brought to a vote, but the Senate NDAA does not contain the same language, making the reconciliation fight the critical next step.
- Biggs described the SAVE Act as legislation designed to prevent millions of Americans from voting rather than to address voter fraud. He noted that in Georgia, 8.2 million people voted and only nine noncitizens were found to have cast ballots. The bill would require in-person registration with a passport or birth certificate, with Biggs noting that roughly one in four Americans with a high school diploma or less does not have a passport. The act is being attached to must-pass vehicles, including continuing resolutions, to force its passage, he said.
- IFPTE recently organized approximately 200 NOAA fisheries workers in Hawaii who voted overwhelmingly for union representation. It’s the union's latest win in an organizing environment Biggs described as producing more requests for union representation than the union has organizers to handle. The AFL-CIO’s goal announced at its recent convention to add 2 million new members is the floor, not the ceiling, Biggs said, and he predicted the labor movement will exceed it.
The Norcross Language: A Second Year, a Bigger Fight
For the second consecutive year, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey, an IBEW member who Biggs described as one of the strongest labor voices in Congress, has successfully added bipartisan language to the House Armed Services Committee's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027. The provision would repeal an executive order from Trump’s first term that stripped collective bargaining rights from over 1 million federal employees. Because the NDAA is a must-pass bill, the language applies only to Department of Defense employees, but that still covers 770,000 federal workers and represents the largest single rollback of the union-busting executive order achievable through the legislative process, Biggs said.
The broader Protect America's Workforce Act demonstrated that there is enough bipartisan support in the House to pass this kind of legislation, even with Republicans in the majority, Biggs said, as that bill required a discharge petition with Republican signatories to reach the floor. He is confident the Norcross language would survive a floor vote if brought up. The threat is an amendment by U.S. Rep. Robert Onder of Missouri to strip the language before it gets there. If that amendment reaches the House floor, Biggs expressed confidence it would be defeated, but the situation requires active pressure, he added.
The Senate NDAA does not include the Norcross language, meaning the real battle will come when the two chambers reconcile their bills. Biggs said IFPTE and its allies will be fighting hard to ensure the language survives that process and ends up in the final signed legislation.
National Security and the Case Against Stripping Union Rights
Biggs pushed back on the administration's claims that union rights in the Department of Defense are a national security concern. He described that argument as backward. The labor-management partnerships built over decades at DoD facilities are among the most effective mechanisms for delivering results on time and under budget. He cited IFPTE's partnership with the Naval Sea Systems Command as a prime example.
IFPTE represents workers at all four Navy shipyards, and the collaborative relationship with NAVSEA management, built over many years, enables ships to get to sea on time and within budget. Stripping collective bargaining rights from the workers who maintain those ships, he said, does not strengthen national security. It damages it.
The SAVE Act: Making Voting Harder to Win Elections
Biggs described the SAVE Act as legislation in search of a problem. The administration frames it as a simple voter ID measure that requires people to show identification when they vote. Biggs said the reality is much more consequential. The bill would require in-person voter registration with a passport or birth certificate, end online registration in states that currently offer it, force states to provide their voter rolls to the federal government and impose major implementation costs on state governments. If passed, the timeline for implementation would not be possible before the next election, he said.
Biggs also addressed the voter fraud argument with specific numbers. In Georgia, 8.2 million people voted in the most recent election. In total, 20 noncitizens registered to vote, and only nine voted. All 20 were referred for prosecution. Biggs noted that one in four Americans with a high school diploma or less does not have a passport, underscoring the disproportionate burden the bill would impose on lower-income voters. He also noted the irony that he can renew his passport online but cannot register to vote online under the proposed law.
He said the SAVE Act is being attached to every must-pass vehicle available, from budget reconciliation to the NDAA to continuing resolutions, precisely because it cannot pass on its own merits.
Hawaii and an Organizing Surge Across the Federal Workforce
Biggs was reelected to his position on the AFL-CIO Executive Council at the June convention in Minneapolis, where he said the energy around organizing was unlike anything he had seen in recent years. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond set a goal of 2 million new union members in five years. Biggs said he is confident the labor movement will exceed that number by a significant margin.
IFPTE's most recent organizing win came from approximately 200 NOAA fisheries workers in Hawaii, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of IFPTE representation. Biggs said the request for union representation from workers across sectors, including law firms, the energy sector and the federal government, is at an all-time high. For the IFPTE, adequate numbers of organizers and other resources are hindering progress. When IFPTE cannot take on a campaign, it coordinates with other AFL-CIO unions to ensure workers are connected to the right representation, Biggs said. Coordination is one of the practical strengths of being part of the AFL-CIO family, he added.
He said the organizing surge is driven by workers wanting more than wages and benefits. They want a say in their careers. They want a voice on the job. They want power over their own professional futures. That demand, he said, is crossing sectors and demographics in ways the labor movement has not seen in a long time. So-Called “Right-to-Work” laws remain one of the most significant constraints on building the resources needed to sustain that momentum, Biggs added, because unions are required to represent every worker in a bargaining unit, whether or not those workers pay dues. Changing that legal reality, he said, is part of the longer-term work.
More information on the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers is available at ifpte.org.
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