TSOs, AFGE Press Administration for Collective Bargaining Rights

Washington, D.C., May 28, 2009 – American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage last week called the White House to request that the administration fulfill its promise to AFGE regarding collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Officers. While understanding that the president has a lot on his plate, AFGE stressed that the TSOs have waited long enough.

"President Obama is a leader who understands the true importance of fairness," Gage said. "In this case, fairness for TSOs simply means that they should be granted the same rights as other federal workers without undue delay."

Obama and Gage met during the presidential campaign last year. Shortly afterward, the White House contender wrote Gage to express his support for AFGE's fight to win TSO collective bargaining rights. After Obama took office, AFGE has been in constant contact with the White House. The union met with the DHS transition team last winter. Gage met with Napolitano shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate. Then there were a follow-up meeting with her chief of staff and constant communications with the White House team. Meanwhile, AFGE has been actively working with lawmakers to pass a bill recently introduced to end TSA's controversial pay system and move TSOs under the General Schedule, the personnel system that covers most federal employees. 

But AFGE's efforts to win TSO collective bargaining rights started years before Obama took office. AFGE was the first union to call for the federalization of the screening workforce after the 2001 terrorist attacks. When the workforce was federalized but wasn't allowed to bargain collectively, AFGE repeatedly wrote to TSA and actively lobbied Congress to address the issue, which led to introductions of bills that would grant TSOs workplace rights.     

Despite enormous resistance from the Bush White House, AFGE and TSOs continued their push with airport sit-ins and meetings with members of Congress. Even though TSOs do not have collective bargaining rights, AFGE continued to represent its TSO members before the Disciplinary Review Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in meetings with management.

Today, more than 10,000 TSOs have joined AFGE to demand the right to bargain over issues such as scheduling, leave, health and safety standards, performance evaluation, training, and benefits. TSOs have been working under arbitrary rules and a hostile environment that have turned TSA into the worst place to work in DHS and among the worst in the entire government for many years in a row.