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Seattle—Transportation Security Administration Officers (TSOs) at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, have joined forces with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)—the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers. The establishment of an NTEU TSA chapter in Washington brings effective workplace representation to hundreds of frontline homeland security employees statewide.

NTEU already represents hundreds of federal employees in the state of Washington. NTEU has local chapters representing employees of the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Yesterday, TSOs at NTEU Chapter 334 (TSA Washington) joined their ranks. NTEU also has a chapter of TSA employees at Portland International Airport.

“NTEU has long responded to the concerns of TSA Officers nationwide who are hardworking and committed to their agency’s mission, but lack a respected voice at work,” NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said. “NTEU has been actively working to improve the work lives of tens of thousands of TSA Officers at airports nationwide. Now, officers in the state of Washington will see similar improvements.”

A critical issue that has plagued TSA since its creation in 2001 is the lack of collective bargaining rights for its officers. “Fundamental civil service and collective bargaining rights for TSA officers will make for a stronger and more effective agency,” President Kelley said. “Granting officers these rights would advance the intent of Congress that TSA become a world-class transportation protection agency.”

NTEU has taken its concerns to Congress, where it worked for the introduction of H.R. 1881, a pending measure in the U.S. House of Representatives that would provide TSOs with full collective bargaining rights by statute. As part of a dual approach, the union also has asked President Obama, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA Administrator John S. Pistole to grant officers these rights administratively.

Kelley noted that such rights are widespread throughout the federal workplace, including within the DHS, where NTEU is the exclusive representative of the 24,000-employee CBP workforce. Both TSA and CBP are DHS units.

“Collective bargaining helps to develop fair, credible and transparent workplace processes without interfering with management rights to fulfill agency missions,” President Kelley said.

Not only is collective bargaining at TSA a priority issue for NTEU, it also is a key component of NTEU’s comprehensive five-point plan for the TSA workforce—a concrete set of goals that will address concerns of employees nationwide. The plan also includes fair pay, full whistleblower protections by statute; a fair shift-scheduling system and adequate staffing; and revisions to the current TSA training and recertification system.

Even without collective bargaining rights, NTEU provides strong on-the-ground representation to TSA Officers in agency proceedings. All NTEU TSA chapters operate with local staff attorneys and labor relations experts to represent officers on a variety of critical workforce issues, such as disciplinary actions and workplace safety measures.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union in the country, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments. A result of an ongoing, aggressive organizing campaign among TSA Officers at airports nationwide, Chapter 334 joins a fast-growing network of more than two dozen NTEU TSA chapters at more than 40 airports from Maine to Hawaii.