Statement by Leaders of IFPTE on President Trump's Executive Order Regarding TVA

Gay Henson, President, Engineering Association (EA), IFPTE Local 1937:
“The workers here at TVA whose jobs are slated to be offshored are thankful and relieved to see the White House issue this executive order. “Through street protests, at the bargaining table and in myriad other ways, our union has repeatedly tried to convince TVA management that it is wrong to export the jobs of hardworking TVA employees to offshore firms during a pandemic. The decision to send work abroad and bring replacement workers in through the use of H-1B visas is a clear violation of TVA’s mission to create jobs in the Tennessee Valley–and generate electricity. This executive order will finally force the TVA to do the right thing and abandon its misguided effort to discard hundreds of workers who have dedicated their careers to TVA and the Tennessee Valley community.”

Paul Shearon, IFPTE International President:
“IFPTE is pleased that the White House has finally heard our calls to intervene in this senseless offshoring of federal employee jobs at TVA. It is bad enough that TVA has continued to hand these jobs over to IT offshoring firms when it does not save money and all our workers meet or exceed performance expectations, but to do so during a pandemic is heartless. We’re pleased the White House weighed in on this issue but it should never have gone this far.”

Matt Biggs, Secretary-Treasurer/Legislative Director:
“IFPTE’s priority all along has been to save the jobs of these dedicated workers while making it clear that TVA should rethink its aggressive pursuit of offshoring and privatizing jobs in the future.”

Please Note:
Matt Biggs explains the history behind TVA’s decision to replace TVA tech workers with employees of firms based abroad in this guest commentary that recently appeared in The Knoxville News Sentinel.