The Trump administration is stripping collective bargaining rights from the nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers who work at airport checkpoints, the latest in a barrage of hits to the federal workforce.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, announced the move Friday, arguing that the union deters from the agency’s priority of securing transportation systems.
Advocates decried the decision as a retaliatory attack on transportation security officers because of their union’s pushback on President Donald Trump’s policies since taking office in January. The American Federation of Government Employees represents transportation security officers.
“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,” Everett Kelley, AFGE national president, said in a statement. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.”
Kelley pledged to challenge the move, saying “AFGE will not rest until the basic dignity and rights of the workers at TSA are acknowledged by the government once again.”
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“Attempting to negate their legally binding collective bargaining agreement now makes zero sense — it will only reduce morale and hamper the workforce,” he said in a statement.
DHS, in its announcement, alleged that collective bargaining led to waste within TSA due to employees working on union matters rather than transportation screening functions.
TSA cut more than 200 workers last month as part of President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to slash the federal workforce.
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