IFPTE Legislative Week: Recap & Future Opportunities

Members of GESTA/IFTPE Local 29 participated in IFTPE’s 2026 Legislative Advocacy Conference at the Hilton Capitol Hill in Washington DC February 9th-12th.  While GESTA representation included seasoned GESTA leadership, it also included first-time participants. The summary below provides the perspective of one first-time participant during the week. GESTA also organized another very successful day of Congressional visits in May, bringing early career NASA employees to visit with Congressional staff members, and highlighting the issues impacting the NASA early career and term employee workforce and NASA workforce pipelines. If you have an interest in joining GESTA during future Congressional advocacy efforts please contact us.

IFPTE Legislative Week 2026 Recap

IFPTE advocates on behalf of a diverse collection of “locals,” e.g. smaller union chapters that each represent labor across dozens of agencies in the U.S. and Canada, which include private companies (e.g. Boeing), nonprofits (e.g. ACLU), state agencies (e.g. the New Jersey Turnpike authority) and multiple federal agencies (e.g. Tennessee Valley Authority, Defense/Navy, etc.).  In addition to Goddard (GESTA), IFTPE represents scientists and engineers at other NASA centers, including Marshall and Ames.  Because IFTPE represents such diversity, their legislative vision is fairly holistic. For the 2026 session, IFTPE highlighted 15 issues.  Some of these most relevant to NASA included: 1) protecting Merit System Principles and Nonpartisan Civil Service, 2) restoring Federal Labor-Management Relations and 3) strengthening the Federal Workforce through Competitive Pay and Benefits. You can find a full list of IFPTE’s 2026 issue briefs on their website. Our GESTA-specific issues included 1) ensuring that FY26 funding for NASA and NASA science was fully and properly spent, 2) providing funding and oversight to halt adverse impacts to Goddard’s technical and scientific capabilities, 3) restoring NASA GISS, 4) rebuilding the NASA talent pipeline and 5) passing the Protect America’s Workforce Act (PAWA) to restore labor-management relations.   

Monday and Tuesday were primarily conference days and included a packed agenda. IFTPE President Matthew Biggs and IFTPE Legislative Director Faraz Khan kicked off the meeting and detailed the 15 IFPTE issues. We also heard from a mental health advocate and a wrongfully terminated immigration judge. Before we left on Monday, our very-supportive Maryland Senator Chris van Hollen gave us a pep talk, and even posed for a photo with GESTA President Trysh Moton and IFPTE leadership (below).  Faraz Khan led Tuesday morning’s Federal Caucus focused on the issues pertaining to federal agencies including NASA. There we learned about the history of collective bargaining in the Federal sector, and that while Democrat President Kennedy used an Executive Order (EO) to allow collective bargaining in the 1960s, it was Republican Nixon in the 1970s that affirmed that unions in the government were necessary to protect all Americans.  IFTPE’s position was that President Trump’s EOs eliminating collective bargaining for NASA (as a security agency), were wasteful, harmful, and illegal.  In addition, any push by Trump to convert federal jobs to “Schedule P/C” (political appointees) was also harmful to the federal service.  Each federal sector “local” in attendance provided feedback on these main issues, while also sharing local issues. GESTA’s perspective was well-shared by President Trysh Moton and Vice President Steve Hard. 

GESTA president Trysh Moton, IFPTE Secretary Treasurer Henson, Senator Van Hollen, and IFTPE President Biggs at Legislative Advocacy Week 2026.

Tuesday afternoon, the fun really began! Prior to the week, and during the Monday and Tuesday morning sessions, GESTA and the other NASA locals set up meetings with staffers (and some Congress members) on the Hill.  The NASA contingent (from Goddard, Ames and Marshall), sometimes accompanied by Khan or other IFPTE representatives, met with minority staff from the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, and later afternoon with the analogous Commerce, Space and Aeronautics committee in the House.  The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local, representing NASA-Johnson employees, was also on the Hill that week. Thus for one meeting, we crammed 10 people from 4 NASA centers into one staffer’s office!

Wednesday and Thursday included more meetings, but these were aimed at members of Congress representing states and districts containing NASA Centers. Thus, as GESTA, we discussed Goddard and GISS-centric issues with staffers of our Maryland (and New York) representatives, but also gave support to other IFTPE local members as they met with their representatives or staffers.  During each of these meetings, various GESTA/IFTPE representatives would take turns discussing the different issues challenging the civil servant and contract workforce at Goddard and/or the other NASA centers. I was honestly surprised and impressed with many of the staffers - in general they were well-informed about issues, but also appeared willing to listen and act upon specific stories and concerns from our group. 

These days on the Hill were extremely intense. I did not comprehend the large physical distances between Senate and House Buildings, offices and the Capitol.  One day included more than 20,000 steps.  In addition, on occasion we struggled to get between points A and B in time. However, we learned it is true - there is an underground train between the Buildings and the Capitol!  (see picture). 

GESTA and IFPTE members traveling to meetings in the Capitol building during IFPTE Legislative week 2026.

Finally, in addition to the business meeting, the advocacy training, and hiking the Hill, there were multiple social opportunities during the week. This included an evening at a local bar/restaurant hosted by the Federal Unionists Network (FUN), and a final closing reception held at IFTPE HQ. Overall, it was a very memorable week and I am glad that GESTA provides opportunities to advocate for ourselves and be involved.