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Washington, D.C. —The runoff election to determine the exclusive union representative for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will be conducted over a four-week period ending on June 21, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today. Two parties will be on the ballot: NTEU and another federal union.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said representatives of the contending unions met with officials of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) today and tentatively agreed that voting instruction materials would be sent to TSA employees on May 23. The voting period will end on June 21, and the votes will be tallied by the FLRA on June 23. The consent agreement has been signed.

“NTEU looks forward to the runoff election,” President Kelley said. “We are confident our record of accomplishments and our program for their future will lead TSA Officers to elect NTEU to help them improve their work lives and their workplaces.” She added: “We have got the momentum. It is a dead heat, and we are going to pull ahead.”

In the first round of voting, which ended earlier this week, NTEU received more than 8,000 votes (or 41 percent) but did not secure the needed majority of 50 percent plus one of the votes cast in order to be declared the winner. A third option on the initial ballot—the choice of no union representation—will not appear on the ballot for the runoff. In the runoff, a simple majority will decide the winner.

NTEU had encouraged the FLRA, which oversees federal-sector labor-management relations, including representation elections, to adopt a four-week voting period for the runoff. “We believe that is a sufficient time period,” she said. The initial voting period covered six weeks.

Kelley said NTEU will continue its aggressive election campaign at airports throughout the country, using organizers and regional field staff assigned to those locations, supplemented by volunteers from NTEU chapters from a range of other federal agencies represented by NTEU.

“Our members are carrying the message of what NTEU has done for them and their colleagues in so many ways over the years,” Kelley said, “and that is resonating with TSA Officers.”

This is the largest union representation election in federal sector history, covering what will be a bargaining unit of more than 43,000 employees.

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