The Trump administration mentioned Friday that it’s ending collective bargaining on the Transportation Safety Administration, successfully revoking union protections for 1000’s of airport safety officers.
In a assertion, the Division of Homeland Safety claimed the transfer would “safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe.”
“Eliminating collective bargaining removes bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility [and] enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jumpstarting innovation,” the company mentioned.
Staff at TSA, which Congress created within the wake of the 9/11 terrorist assaults, don’t get pleasure from the identical union rights as workers at most different federal companies. Bargaining rights can basically be prolonged or rescinded on the will of the administrator.
These rights had been launched at TSA by former President Barack Obama and strengthened underneath former President Joe Biden. However now they’re being tossed apart by Trump.
HuffPost reported in December that Trump was more likely to crack down on collective bargaining at TSA if he received the presidential election, and that he might look to crush unions at different companies within the identify of “national security.”
Joe Raedle through Getty Pictures
Many TSA employees are represented by the American Federation of Authorities Staff, or AFGE. The union has filed a slew of lawsuits geared toward blocking the White Home’s effort to fireplace 1000’s of federal workers and get rid of federal companies unilaterally.
AFGE President Everett Kelley referred to as the Trump administration’s determination to roll again collective bargaining rights at TSA “an unprovoked attack” designed to punish the union.
“Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” Kelley mentioned. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.”
In its assertion, DHS claimed that TSA employees are “losing their hard-earned dollars” to the union ― despite the fact that paying union dues is completely elective for federal workers, they usually nonetheless reap the advantages of a union contract in the event that they select to not.
Mike Gayzagian, a TSA employee and the president of AFGE Native 2617 in New England, instructed HuffPost in December that union rights had helped enhance low-paying TSA jobs and make it simpler for the company to retain workers. Eliminating union rights would make the work considerably worse, he predicted.
“We’re worried about what’s going to happen next year, but hopefully we’re down on the bottom of [Trump’s] list,” Gayzagian mentioned on the time.
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