Bush: Killing Workers’ Freedom to Bargain More Important than Passing Homeland Security Bill

by Mike Hall, Mar 1, 2007

So, what’s more important to President Bush—fighting terrorism or busting unions? You can come to your own conclusions, but, on Tuesday, the Bush White House said it would veto an anti-terrorism bill that includes many of the recommendations of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission if it includes a provision that grants collective bargaining rights to 43,000 airport screeners in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

In another insult to America’s workers, Bush yesterday swore to veto the Employee Free Choice Act that is up for a House vote today.

The usual lineup of anti-worker Republicans in the Senate also plan to gut TSA workers’ freedom to have a voice on the job. As The New York Times reports:

In a letter sent Tuesday to the White House, Senator Jim DeMint, Republican
of South Carolina, and 35 other Senate Republicans said they were prepared,
if necessary, to sustain a veto.

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney puts it this way:

It’s ironic that the Bush administration blocked TSA officers from having a voice on the job under the guise of national security. Airport screeners are entrusted with a vitally important duty and must be free to speak up about where improvements can be made to best protect our nation from terrorist attacks. Without bargaining and appeals rights, TSA workers are subject to workplace discrimination and retaliation for pointing out shortcomings in security procedures.

In January, the House included the collective bargaining provision in the Sept. 11 bill and Senate Democrats added the pro-worker language to the Senate version when it passed out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month.

The provision would repeal a portion of the 2002 Aviation and Transportation Security Act that gave the Bush administration the authority to end bargaining rights for TSA workers. In 2003, as TSA workers at several airports were readying to vote on joining AFGE, the Bush administration, citing so-called “national security” concerns, terminated the screeners’ collective bargaining rights.

Says AFGE President John Gage:

With no protections, [TSA workers] are subject to workplace discrimination, retaliation, adverse actions, un­scheduled mandatory overtime and fear of speaking out on issues of security.

Congressional Republicans blocked several attempts to restore the TSA workers’ rights, but the new Democratic majority is making workplace fairness issues a top priority, as demonstrated by their efforts in the TSA fight and Employee Free Choice Act legislation.

Putting anti-union beliefs before national security has drawn some stinging comments. Here’s some from Kos on the Daily Kos:

…implementing measures that would make our nation safer from terrorists will get vetoed and upheld by at least 36 Senate Republicans simply because 45,000 airport workers would be unionized.

They are putting the nation’s safety in peril over the GOP’s ideological jihad against unions.

ED Sills, Texas AFL-CIO communications director, doesn’t mince words about Bush’s threat:

Once again, Bush has made it clear that he considers unionization to be counter to the security of the United States. The assertion that union members would place work rules ahead of the nation’s security in a true national emergency is despicable. The framework of Bush’s position is a McCarthyite smear no different than when folks of Bush’s ilk called union members commies.

Bush’s “unions are more dangerous than terrorists” argument proves the old saying: Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you haven’t.

Click here, here and here to read more about the Bush administration’s attacks on TSA workers and workers in the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.