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Fort Lauderdale, Fla.—Collective bargaining rights were the main topic of discussion when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport met with U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to rally their support for improved workplace rights at TSA.

Members from the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) Chapter 312 (TSA Fort Lauderdale) met with the two lawmakers on Sunday during and after a joint town hall discussion in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

NTEU established Chapter 312 in 2008 at the request of local TSA Officers (TSOs) who were seeking strong and effective workplace representation. The chapter has hundreds of members—TSA Officers who help to ensure the safety and security of the more than 1.9 million passengers who travel through Fort Lauderdale Airport each month. NTEU represents TSA Officers at more than 40 airports around the country, including Miami International Airport.

During the meeting, both representatives expressed strong support for legislation (H.R. 1881) pending in the House of Representatives that would provide TSOs with full collective bargaining rights by statute. These rights would offer TSOs at Fort Lauderdale Airport a meaningful voice in their workplace in dealing with an unfair pay system, arbitrary workplace policies and undue disciplinary actions, said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley.

"I applaud the efforts of Reps. Meek and Wasserman Schultz in supporting an improved work environment for TSA Officers who consistently face arbitrary work rules and regulations, as well as unfair pay and performance management systems that detract from the agency’s critical mission,” she said.

“Both Reps. Meek and Wasserman Schultz understand that the key to creating a stable, functioning agency, one that is able to meet its important responsibilities to the American people, is for officers to have full collective bargaining rights,” Kelley said.

Collective bargaining at TSA is the cornerstone of NTEU’s plan to improve the agency’s workplace. The plan also includes moving officers to a fair and credible pay system; providing them with whistleblower rights by statute; establishing a fair shift scheduling system accompanied by adequate staffing; and making substantial revisions to the training and recertification program.

Even without collective bargaining rights, NTEU provides strong on-the-ground representation to TSA Officers at Fort Lauderdale Airport in agency proceedings. NTEU representatives in south Florida have assisted several Fort Lauderdale officers in workplace disputes over the unfair denial of sick leave requests, unfair discipline and unannounced changes to shift schedules by TSA management.

“Only through collective bargaining can officers have a meaningful say in their working conditions and be treated with the respect that befits their critical mission of providing passenger protection and transportation security,” Kelley said.

President Kelley noted that such rights are widespread throughout the federal workplace, including within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where NTEU is the exclusive representative of the 24,000-employee Customs and Border Protection (CBP) workforce. Both TSA and CBP are DHS units. NTEU defeated another federal labor union in a 2006 election in CBP by a margin of more than two to one.

NTEU is currently leading a two-pronged approach to secure collective bargaining rights for TSOs with the Obama administration and Congress. The union also is engaged in an aggressive, nationwide organizing campaign among TSA Officers, representing thousands of them at airports across the country, including several Florida airports.

The largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 31 federal agencies and departments.