Across a stretch of ocean larger than the continental United States, the people who look after America’s fish stocks, coral reefs, and endangered sea life just won something last month their predecessors never had: a union.
Workers employed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Pacific Island Region voted overwhelmingly last week to be represented by IFPTE Local 8A. International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), an affiliate union of the MTD, will represent roughly 126 new federal employees spanning from Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and CNMI.
NOAA Fisheries in the Pacific employ scientists, analysts, biologists, and specialists who regulate the nation’s ocean resources across the largest geographic area in all of the NOAA Fisheries’ jurisdiction. They also regulate international fisheries agreements and coordinate with regional fisheries management organizations across the Pacific. Commercial and non-commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands contributes nearly $1.7 billion in sales and supports close to 16,000 jobs across island communities. The people who keep those fisheries healthy and those industries viable are precisely the workers who just decided they deserve a voice on the job. Local 8A President, Nick Tolimieri, said on the success, “It is as important now more than ever that federal employees band together and strengthen not only our working conditions, but protect the vital work that we all perform on behalf of American taxpayers.”
Federal workers across the country are facing unprecedented attacks on their union rights, and IFPTE has been fighting back in the legal, legislative, and grassroots arenas. “These folks are under attack by this Administration and yet they stepped up to the plate, and were brave enough to organize,” said IFPTE International President, Matt Biggs, highlighting the win last week on America’s Work Force Union Podcast.
At the recent AFL-CIO convention in Minneapolis this past June, 65 affiliate unions gathered unanimously committing to defend the nation’s federal workforce and to add at least two million new union members to the labor movement. IFPTE’s win is a step toward that two million, and proof that the target can be reached, regardless of the obstacles. The MTD applauds our affiliate union members on their organizing success while extending a warm welcome to the 126 new maritime workers who will help turn the tides of labor at sea.