Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—The president of the nation’s largest independent federal union today called on every member of the Senate to approve S. 4—legislation enacting the recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission, and in particular the provision of that bill providing collective bargaining rights for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Equity, security and stability of the TSA workforce compel Congress to provide collective bargaining rights for the only major workforce at DHS denied these rights,” President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) wrote in a letter to senators.

She added: “Ending years of TSA employee turnover and turmoil will result from this important correction by Congress.”

The legislation creating TSA permits the denial of collective bargaining rights for the federal workforce responsible for screening domestic airline passengers—even as a National Labor Relations Board decision grants that right to private sector workers hired to perform the same functions in a pilot program involving some airports.

President Kelley took special aim at contentions that providing federal screeners with collective bargaining rights would endanger the air travel system because the employees would then have the right to strike.

“Federal workers represented by a union have no right to strike,” she said, “and any statement to the contrary is patently false.”

In fact, she added, the original TSA legislation contains specific language dealing with that matter. It says, in Section 111 of Public Law 107-71: “Limitation on Right to Strike—An individual (who) screens passenger or property, or both, at an airport under this section may not participate in a strike, or assert the right to strike, against the person (including a government entity) employing such individual to perform such screening.”

The NTEU leader pointed out to senators that in no instance has collective bargaining rights hindered the federal government’s emergency response capability. “Every union contract with federal agencies recognizes management’s right to assign and detail workers as necessary,” she wrote, adding that “management flexibility in times of crisis is set in statute.”

For their information, she quoted Title V, Section 7106 (a)(D), which says, in part, that nothing “shall affect the authority of any management official of any agency to take whatever actions may be necessary to carry out the agency mission during emergencies.”

NTEU, President Kelley said, believes that “collective bargaining rights are the foundation for building a highly-trained, committed, experienced career screener workforce.” As things now stand, working conditions and unilateral management actions have led to voluntary attrition rates among screeners of more than 50 percent. TSA, Kelley said, “has been plagued by personnel problems never seen in any federal agency.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including more than 14,000 in DHS’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.