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Washington, D.C. — The president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents tens of thousands of homeland security employees, applauded the commitment of 88 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support the workplace rights of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees.

On July 22, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley sent a letter to key House members urging them to sign on to a letter asking TSA Administrator John Pistole to quickly review current policies at his agency and strongly consider granting comprehensive workplace rights to TSA employees.

“By supporting fundamental civil service and collective bargaining rights of TSA employees, these members of Congress are supporting a stronger and more effective agency,” Kelley said.

Led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the signees are co-sponsors of H.R. 1881, a bill to provide Transportation Security Officers with standard government employment rights to ensure a professional, experienced transportation protection workforce.

“As the congressional letter highlights, collective bargaining rights in TSA will demonstrably improve the ability of TSA to carry out its mission,” Kelley said.

Within DHS, NTEU represents the 24,000-employee Customs and Border Protection (CBP) workforce; and prior to the establishment of CBP, NTEU had represented the legacy Customs Service bargaining unit for some 30 years.

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