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Washington, D.C.—Today, for the second time in three months, the leader of the National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU) and a delegation of its Transportation Security Administration (TSA) union leaders met with senior TSA management to continue their work in identifying ongoing workplace issues at TSA. Topics ranged from split shifts and Employee Advisory Councils to staffing, seniority and promotion protocols.

“Until TSA employees have collective bargaining rights, these forums allow us to call attention to issues that are getting in the way of employees trying to do their jobs and to solve problems that are harming morale,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, noting that NTEU has already seen issues addressed that were raised at the previous meeting.

In a theme that was repeated from the initial meeting on July 28, President Kelley said NTEU has “concerns about national policies being implemented by Field Service Directors in very different ways and different from the intent of TSA.” One of the advantages of the sessions, said TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides, is that TSA leaders get first-hand feedback from employees about how national policies translate in the field. “How it gets implemented is not always the way we intended it to be when we set the policy in the first place,” she stated.

President Kelley was joined by NTEU-represented frontline employees from eight airports nationwide who related their first-hand expertise and concerns about issues affecting the TSA workforce.

Those in attendance discussed a variety of employee topics, including promotion from D to E band, bidding on shifts, moving from part-time to full-time positions, staffing and overtime.

On promotion protocols, employees expressed concerns about promotions from D to E band being denied or delayed because of unscheduled absences or a past, sometimes trivial, disciplinary action that was still being held against the employee. TSA leadership discussed reasons why such promotions would be denied and said they would look further into delays in promotions to ensure national policies were being properly implemented.

On the subject of split shifts, employees stated that there is no clear policy on what part-time or split shift employees need to do to move to full-time positions. TSA leadership said there currently is no TSA-wide criteria for moving from part-time to full-time status and that it appears such a protocol should be developed. Ideas were exchanged about what criteria should be used.

Adequate staffing was another issue raised by Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) at the meeting, with employees expressing concerns about staffing numbers at their airports. TSOs expressed concerns about leave denials and unfilled vacancies related to staffing. TSA leadership explained TSA’s staffing model, noting that optimization teams also go out to the field to evaluate staffing. Also discussed was how seniority was applied to bidding for shifts.

A discussion was held about Employee Advisory Councils and whether employees’ views were being adequately represented on councils across airports. TSA leadership told employees that an evaluation of the advisory councils was being conducted. TSOs noted that in some airports, employees feel their candid feedback is not welcome.

First-hand testimony at the July meeting has produced concrete results, as several airports nationwide have changed local guidelines to conform to national TSA policy. Last month, TSA leadership also responded to NTEU requests for specific data about TSA’s pay system, as well as information on training and certification standards and various other TSA directives.

While Kelley acknowledged the agency’s willingness to hold ongoing discussions about key workplace issues, she noted that the discussions do not offer the advantages of full collective bargaining rights. “Full collective bargaining rights would help to alleviate many of the current TSA workplace issues, including disciplinary rules, the agency’s much-maligned grievance procedure and unfair shifts and schedules,” she said.

Acting Administrator Rossides praised the “framework” of the meeting, noting that it was “very educational” for both groups. She said the meetings were a “great opportunity to build trust between NTEU, our employees and the leadership of TSA.” She thanked the TSOs in attendance for their willingness to step forward and bring up “constructive issues.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments. The union also is engaged in an aggressive organizing campaign and already represents thousands of TSA employees at airports nationwide.