by James Parks, Jan 10, 2007

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) addresses a press conference on TSA employees’ freedom to join a union.

In a major victory for workers seeking a union, the House yesterday passed a bill that would give 56,000 airport screeners the freedom to form a union and bargain for wages and benefits.

The measure, passed by a 299–128 vote, was part of a bill to enact recommendations of the 9-11 Commission. The vote puts screeners one step closer to gaining bargaining rights, appeal rights and whistle-blower protections. It repeals a portion of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), which gave the Bush administration authority to terminate collective bargaining for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The bill now goes to the Senate, and if it passses, to President Bush for his signature before becoming law. 

John Gage, president of AFGE, which has pushed for new legislation for four years and is the only union representing TSA officers, says:

The new House has begun the process of righting a terrible wrong. TSA’s denial of collective bargaining and other civil service rights is not what Congress had in mind when it created the agency, and TSA no longer will get away with treating its valued employees like second-class workers.

Of all the federal agencies, TSA embarrassingly leads the way with injury and attrition rates and EEOC complaints. TSA subjects its employees to workplace discrimination, retaliation, adverse actions, mandatory overtime, and fear of speaking out on issues of security. By repealing the ATSA footnote, the House has said that TSA will no longer be allowed to deny its workers basic labor rights. And, allowing for collective bargaining, whistle blower protection and appeal rights will help improve security by stabilizing the workforce and improving morale.

In 2001, airport screeners at several major airports sought to join AFGE and continued to seek a voice at work after the federal government took over screening operations in 2002. In 2003, with workers and AFGE ready to seek elections at several airports, then-TSA Administrator James Loy used his authority to opt the government out of collective bargaining. The Bush administration tried to justify its 2002 decision to deny representation and collective bargaining rights to airport screeners at TSA on the basis of national security, even though other TSA employees, such as border guards, are allowed to join unions.

Click here for a detailed report from AFGE National Organizer Peter Winch about the screeners’ continuing effort to win a union voice at work.

The Bush administration has used the same national security argument in its bid to deny collective bargaining rights through new personnel rules to more than 700,000 U.S. Defense Department workers and 160,000 employees in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In November, the International Labor Organization, an arm of the United Nations, ruled the Bush administration violated the “fundamental” rights of airport screeners when it prohibited the workers from achieving union representation and engaging in collective bargaining.

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