Two unions are vying for the chance to represent Transportation Security Administration screeners, now that TSA Administrator John Pistole has announced that he would let security officers bargain over certain workplace issues.
The screeners are slated to vote in March on whether they should unionize and if so, whom they should use to do so.
One lawmaker, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is worried that such unionization could hamper security, especially should there be a national threat and the organization needs to move quickly and without union approval. He has introduced an amendment to a Federal Aviation Administration bill that would not allow TSA screeners to collectively bargain.
“The Obama Administration’s actions today to move forward on unionizing our TSA workforce with collective bargaining rights could hamper our national security,” Wicker says in a statement released last week.
But not everyone agrees that the threat is as large as Wicker alleges. Federal employees are not allowed to strike, and TSA workers would be included in that restriction.
The TSA says workers would be allowed to bargain regarding security policies, job qualifications, pay or disciplinary standards.
One of the unions seeking to represent TSA employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, wants senators to vote against Wicker’s proposed amendment.
“This decision and the upcoming representation election at TSA will give these officers a voice in their workplace and a chance at a better future,” says NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley in a statement last week.
The other union in the running is the American Federation of Government Employees. Elections are scheduled for March 9 to April 19.
