Time Is Now for TSO Bargaining Rights
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Hundreds of workers braved the cold Washington, D.C., weather today to send a message to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA): Give transportation security officers (TSOs) who protect the flying public the opportunity to protect themselves with the right to bargain a union contract.
“Chanting Union Rights for TSOs,” members of dozens of unions rallied at AFL-CIO headquarters this morning. Speaking within earshot of the White House, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said:
“It is way past time for the Obama administration to give the TSOs their right to bargain collectively and hold their election so they can sit down at the table with management, start the negotiations and change their lives for the better.”
AFGE yesterday filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) for an election to allow the 41,000 TSOs to vote on union representation. In 2003, the Bush administration stripped the workers of collective bargaining rights.
SAG, NATCA and WGAE Elect Top Officers
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The Screen Actors (SAG) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) elected new leadership teams recently and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) re-elected their top officers.
Actor Ken Howard was elected as SAG’s president in a mail ballot, with results announced yesterday. Amy Aquino was elected secretary-treasurer. Howard and Aquino succeed Alan Rosenberg and Connie Stevens, respectively, and begin their two-year terms immediately.
Howard pledged to strengthen the union’s bargaining power:
“I campaigned on the promise that I’d do everything in my power to strengthen our position at the bargaining table by building a greater unity with [American Federation of Television and Radio Artists] AFTRA and the other entertainment unions, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Despite the sharp differences that those of us active in Guild affairs sometimes have over strategy and tactics, we need to continually remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team, fighting for the same thing—and by pulling together, we’ll only grow stronger.”
NATCA chose Paul Rinaldi, an 18-year veteran air traffic controller from the control tower at Washington Dulles Airport, as president in a runoff election. Rinaldi, who has served as NATCA’s executive vice president since 2006, will take office on Oct. 17 to begin his three-year term. He will succeed Patrick Forrey.
The runoff election was held because no candidate won the required 50 percent-plus one majority in the first balloting, which was announced on July 31. NATCA Executive Vice President Patricia Gilbert won a clear majority and took office Sept. 1.
Rinaldi said he plans to make sure the nation’s air traffic controllers have a voice in the workplace:
Throughout my career, I’ve made it my mission to further the goals of this union and I’m not stopping now. We’ve had a difficult last three years, but we’ve persevered. I look forward to ensuring that our members always have a voice and, just as important, that the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] always listens.
