Approved: July 2003 
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It is the policy of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) that engineering is an important and learned profession having a direct and vital impact on the quality of life. As members of this profession, engineers are expected to exhibit the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require impartiality, fairness, and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. Engineers must also perform under a standard of professional behavior requiring adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct.
State engineering licensure laws recognize that the practice of engineering affects the public health, safety and welfare and is subject to regulation and control in the public interest. Engineers may be disciplined under state engineering licensure laws and state board rules of professional conduct for failing to fulfill their legal obligations. Included with those obligations are: the responsibility to the public welfare; signing and sealing design documents that conform to accepted engineering standards; and avoidance of conflicts of interests or other circumstances that could influence or appear to influence the quality of the engineer's judgment or services.
Engineers and engineering societies are aware of the legal right of employees to organize. That right, however, must be balanced against the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare as referenced in NSPE Professional Policy 109—Collective Bargaining. When individuals who are acting on behalf of an engineer are members of the same labor organization that also represents employees of an entity being overseen by the engineer, it may interfere with the independent judgment and discretion required of the engineers and their subordinates to insure the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. Labor organization bylaws and rules generally require members to pledge primary loyalty and allegiance to the labor organization and its members. The disparity between the obligations of these individuals to both the union and the public can create severe conflicts that may interfere with the engineer's primary obligation to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
In addition, labor organizations sometimes sanction members who report other member misconduct, even though the reporting member had an employment duty to do so. The existence of the potential impact of such censure can place additional pressure on an employee leading to a compromise of the decision–making process during the performance of engineering–related services. Relying upon engineering related determinations made by these subordinates create situations that can negatively affect the engineer's ethical and legal responsibilities including independent judgment and discretion, necessary to protect public health and safety. In many jurisdictions, knowledge of such violations of the law may also impose a legal obligation on engineers to report the professional misconduct.
Engineers, either individually or through their subordinates, should not be placed in a position of reviewing the work of other entities when the employees of both are represented by the same labor organization. This interferes with the engineer's obligation to practice in a professional and ethical manner. In addition, collective bargaining agreements that, in conjunction with the practice of engineering, may impact the public health, safety, and welfare should not contain any provision that penalizes any employee for reporting the improper actions or the unacceptable conduct of any other party.
