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Washington, D.C.—A key House subcommittee will hold a hearing next Thursday to examine the response of federal agencies to the recent swine flu outbreak, and in particular, agency efforts to protect employees in frontline homeland security positions from becoming infected.

The hearing, by the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, is scheduled for 2 p.m., May 14, in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley, who has worked tirelessly since the widespread onset of this illness to secure the right for frontline employees to don protective masks if they so choose, will present testimony to the subcommittee.

NTEU represents the entire 22,000-employee Customs and Border Protection (CBP) bargaining unit, working at the nation’s 327 air, land and sea ports of entry—including those along the U.S.-Mexico border—as well as thousands of airport passenger screeners at major airports across the nation.

“All day, every day, these employees come in close contact with travelers in the performance of their duties,” President Kelley, “and the guidance provided them thus far has been incomplete and inadequate to protect them. They need and deserve the right to put on protective masks if, in their discretion, they believe it is necessary to protect their health.”

What is worse, the NTEU leader said, is that local managers at some ports of entry around the country have ordered employees to remove masks, unless a passenger is exhibiting symptoms. “This is an example of what happens when there is a failure to provide clear and written instructions to local supervisors,” Kelley said, noting that medical experts—including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—have been clear in expressing their judgment that travelers can be ill without displaying any symptoms.

In a statement announcing the hearing, Rep. Lynch called Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidance on the mask issue “inconsistent and inadequate.” In calling for the right of these employees to wear protective masks and gloves “without further delay,” the congressman said, ‘The federal government cannot safely and efficiently conduct any type of enhanced screening operation if it cannot ensure its workers that those procedures are safe.”

Next week’s hearing is titled “Protecting the Protectors: An Assessment of Frontline Federal Workers in Response to the H1N1 Outbreak.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.