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Washington D.C.—As a key Senate committee begins work on a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) authorization bill, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called for the inclusion of a number of critical provisions, including giving TSA employees the same merit protections and pay system that are enjoyed by the vast bulk of the federal workforce. Most critically, that would include the right to bargain collectively.

That was the message contained in a letter from NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which is developing the TSA authorization bill.

Kelley said the provisions advanced by NTEU, and in particular the grant of collective bargaining rights, would advance the congressional intent that TSA become a world-class passenger protection agency.

NTEU is engaged in a nationwide, aggressive organizing campaign among TSA employees, and already represents thousands of them at airports, both large and small, across the country.

President Kelley called on the Commerce Committee to include in its measure the provisions on TSA collective bargaining contained in H.R. 1881, introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey ((D-N.Y.), calling the grant of such rights for employees of this troubled agency “our number one priority.”

At the same time, she pointed to several other important matters she hoped would be addressed by the committee’s work on this bill, including annual recertification of employees; inadequate staffing; government contracting of passenger screening responsibilities to private companies; and the uniform allowance for TSA employees—which she called “woefully inadequate.”

“As you know,” she wrote to Sen. Rockefeller, “TSA has been plagued by terrible morale problems, based in large part on the fact that (Transportation Security Officers, or TSOs) have no voice in their workplace and no recourse for what can only be described as management by intimidation.”

Further, she said, the annual recertification for TSOs “continues to be mired in controversy.” She asked the committee to instruct the agency to study the recertification procedure and develop a system that more accurately reflects a TSO’s proficiency. “The current testing rarely reflects actual imaging conditions,” Kelley said, “and there are serious problems in the testing regimen.”

As to staffing issues, the NTEU leader noted just one high-profile example: agency officials at Los Angeles International Airport have imposed a leave blackout covering the entire summer because of a lack of sufficient staff.

“We would like the authorization bill to instruct TSA to review its staffing needs in light of the changing nature of procedures and equipment used to carry out its mission, and report its findings to the Commerce Committee in a timely manner,” she wrote.

Kelley also noted that private screening companies “are clamoring to provide screening at various airports,” and said “it makes no sense to create a seamless security system within TSA, with multiple layers of security, and then allow holes in that security system where the government contracts out the screening process.”

Under the law, private companies are permitted to handle screening responsibilities at some airports.

In her letter, President Kelley put the issue of the uniform allowance for TSOs in the context of their already low pay. “Although TSOs are the lowest-paid professionals in the federal government, the allowance offered by TSA does not even cover one complete uniform,” she wrote to the committee chairman.

“We would like to see a provision in your bill changing (the law) to order TSA to pay an allowance of $1,000 to new employees and $800 per year thereafter, for new uniforms,” Kelley said. An $800 uniform allowance would match that provided annually to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers; NTEU is the exclusive representative of the entire 24,000-employee CBP bargaining unit.

President Kelley noted the current allowance of $200 a year—a modest increase over the $150 paid in years past—is simply not enough to keep up with manufacturer cost increases. A TSA jacket, for example, now costs $199, taking an entire year’s allowance, she said.

“TSA employees are among the most visible federal employees,” Kelley said. “Not only do all domestic travelers interact with them regularly, visitors do so as well. It is important that they have the ability to maintain a professional appearance.”

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