AFA-CWA Voices Support for AFGE's TSA Campaign

AFGE Attorney Addresses AFA-CWA Convention 

Washington, D.C., July 3, 2009 – The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has voiced support for the American Federation of Government Employees' eight-year campaign to win collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Officers and is urging TSOs to join AFGE to continue the fight for the workplace rights they deserve.

"Our union has been following the progress of your organizing with the American Federation of Government Employees across the entire country in all of the airports where we fly," said AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend in a letter to TSOs. "We understand your struggle. We understand how difficult it can be: what employers can do to keep you from free association, which we all know is protected by our constitution, even if our employers try to make us think differently."

Thanking TSOs for keeping the skies safe, Friend said flight attendants rely heavily on TSOs' skills and watchful eyes to ensure the safe transport of the millions of passengers they carry everyday. TSOs are skilled professionals and deserve to be treated as such. She urged TSOs to join AFGE, which is part of the larger AFL-CIO, and enjoy the support of 11 million union brothers and sisters in 56 organizations.

"Put simply, having a union is a more sophisticated way of doing business," Friend said. "You can either each have your own direct relationship with management and be subjected to whims and personalities, or you can come together and have a contract that applies to all."

AFA-CWA is the most recent of several AFL-CIO affiliated unions committed to helping AFGE and its TSO members in their fight for labor rights. AFGE Attorney Chad Harris addressed AFA-CWA's convention delegates in Washington, D.C., last month about the union's campaign and TSOs' struggle. Dozens of AFA-CWA officers at different airports have offered assistance to AFGE activists working on the TSA campaign.  

"AFGE's affiliation with the AFL-CIO has been a powerful asset to TSOs over the years. With millions of union members backing our call for collective bargaining rights, we know that it is just a matter of time before TSA's resistance to organization falls like a house of cards," said AFGE President John Gage. "TSOs can ill-afford to be associated with any so-called union that chooses to keep itself outside of the house of labor. As workers, we either all stand together or we fall prey to the management ploy of divide and conquer."

Gage has been asked to provide an update on the progress of the campaign to win full bargaining rights for the TSA workforce at the AFL-CIO convention to be held in Pittsburgh in September.