Labor union looks north for new members

Under pressure from new limits on collective bargaining, federal employee unions are turning to one place the Bush administration can't reach them: Across the border.

New personnel systems for the Homeland Security and Defense departments restrict collective bargaining, the traditional way that unions negotiate on behalf of employees. Other Bush administration policies, such as competitive sourcing, also are clamping down on federal employee union power. In an effort to maintain strength, some unions have started recruiting in Canada and building ties with international unions.

"It's extremely difficult to organize in the U.S. right now," said Gregory Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. About half of IFPTE's 80,000 members are federal employees.

IFPTE decided to pursue Canadian members after meeting with a group that represented energy professionals in Canada. That group was looking to increase its own bargaining strength, and saw IFPTE as a good match. IFPTE hired a full-time organizer for Canada, and promised its new members that all of their dues would be invested in Canadian efforts, not funneled back to the U.S.

The 6,300 new Canadian members work for private companies, but Junemann said Canadian government employees in similar fields also are welcome.

"We do see a day where because of the potential there, our Canadian membership is going to be larger than our American membership within the next 10 years. And that doesn't scare any of us," he added.

Peter Winch, a national organizer at the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said that while his organization is not recruiting foreign members, it is strengthening relationships with international unions.

"In order to gain broad knowledge about contracting out and how to stop contracting out, we need those ties with public employees in other unions," he said. He added that the companies that federal employees compete against for jobs, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, are international, and AFGE may be able to improve its competitive edge by becoming more international itself.

At recent meetings, AFGE's president, John Gage, has discussed the need to deepen ties to public employee unions around the world, Winch said. AFGE also renewed its affiliation with Public Services International, an organization of 500 public sector unions around the world.

Still, Sharon Pinnock, AFGE director of membership and organization, is quick to explain that there is plenty of work to be done at home. "We really do have quite enough organizing work to do just to get the people here. We can do that for the next five years," she said.

The National Treasury Employees Union has yet to jump on the Canadian bandwagon. Its constitution specifies that the union represents only U.S. federal employees, said president Colleen Kelley. There is one exception, however: If a contractor wins a job competition, the union can represent its employees, regardless of their location.

"It's important for contractors to know that," she said. "Maybe it impacts their interest."