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Washington, D.C.—The principal issue contributing to continued low morale among employees of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is ongoing staffing shortages at the nation’s ports of entry, the head of the union representing tens of thousands of frontline homeland security workers told a House subcommittee today.
There are “long lines and unmanned booths facing those waiting to deliver goods and services through commercial lanes, and travelers in line for hours” waiting to enter the United States, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), in testimony submitted to a hearing on morale issues within CBP’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The NTEU leader cited the most recent “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” report by the Partnership for Public Service showing that CBP was ranked by its employees as 145th out of 228 agency subcomponents, and continues to rank near the bottom on such key indicators as strategic management, teamwork, effective leadership, support for diversity, and family-friendly culture and benefits.
Meanwhile, she said, the same report showed that DHS, which has since its creation nearly a decade ago ranked at or near the bottom in overall satisfaction, was ranked 31st out of 33 large federal agencies surveyed.
President Kelley pointed to the busy San Ysidro port of entry in southern California as an example of the impact of insufficient staffing. There, she said, “employees are assigned so many hours of overtime that they believe their own safety is endangered.”
But short staffing isn’t the only drag on morale in CBP, the NTEU leader told the subcommittee. Also contributing is the continuing resistance of local managers to permit expanded telework as authorized by Congress. “Non-uniformed trade operations personnel continue to be denied telework for reasons cited by management that have nothing to do with the telework program,” she said.
The NTEU leader strongly recommended significant increases in both security and trade personnel staffing at ports of entry, and a review of the cost and necessity of CBP’s “top-heavy” management structure, among other important steps for improving morale at the agency.
NTEU is the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including the entire 24,000-employee CBP bargaining unit.