Integrity is a central and defining element of professionalism.
To act with integrity, professionals in the federal sector must be free to uphold professional standards, pursue knowledge, and contribute to the public good. Professional integrity serves the public, and it should be fiercely defended.
The safety and security of the American public is put at risk when undue pressure or influence is exerted on professionals in the federal sector by self-interested politicians or lobbyists from well-financed special interests. These professionals can find themselves being asked to compromise or ignore professional standards and/or alter, downplay or withhold research data or findings that Americans rely on to keep our transportation systems safe, our food supply disease-free, and our economy prosperous.
Professionals in the federal government should not have to choose between maintaining their professional integrity and keeping their jobs or funding. Shielding professionals who uphold their professional integrity in the face of external pressures requires appropriate protections, including civil service protections, union rights, and the ability to blow the whistle on wrongdoing without fear of retaliation.
Our Core Principles
We believe that defending workers’ professional integrity:
Supports the delivery of quality, reliable services to the American people while ensuring good, honest government
Acting with professional integrity means carrying out one’s work in an ethical, trustworthy manner. In acting with integrity, federal employees and contractors uphold professional standards, pursue knowledge, and contribute to the public good. In practice, that means working everyday to act in the best interest of the American people.
Ensures the federal government functions in the interests of the American people
Everyday Americans’ safety, security, and economic wellbeing is put at risk when federal employees and contractors feel they must hide the truth or ignore objective facts.
Requires committing resources for merit-based hiring and fostering institutional knowledge and values that support ethical, accountable, impartial, and effective governance and delivery of public services
Through succession planning, workforce policies, and opportunities to build or retain proficiency, the government must ensure the federal workforce has the necessary capacity and expertise needed to provide quality public services. Thus, to uphold professional integrity in public services the federal government must be fully staffed and funded and guard against replacing inherently governmental public services with private delivery of government functions and services.
Serves the public, and therefore must be safeguarded through strong civil service protections
Federal workers and contractors should not have to choose between maintaining their integrity and keeping their jobs or funding. Effective civil service protections must ensure a fair, accountable, and merit-based workforce - not one filled with unlimited political appointees and clandestine political operatives.
Demands that workers have a voice at work
Professionals must have the right to join together in union and negotiate enforceable contracts. Collective bargaining allows workers to offer expertise and experience that improves processes, reduces waste, and generates efficiencies that benefit Americans without fear or retribution.
Necessitates that workers can safely report wrongdoing
Federal employees and workers on projects supported by public funds must be able to blow the whistle on wrongdoing without fear of retaliation. Americans benefit from whistleblower protections that exist to serve the interests of everyday taxpayers.
Member Organizations
Actors’ Equity Association (Equity)
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)
Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO (DPE)
Government Accountability Project
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE)
Join Us
Join the Coalition for Professional Integrity as a member organization.