Bill Passed to Move TSOs to General Schedule, Grant Collective Bargaining Rights

The House Homeland Security Committee today passed an AFGE-backed bill that would end the TSA's highly subjective Performance Accountability and Standards System and move TSA workers to the General Schedule system most federal employees are under. The 2009 Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act also would grant TSOs the rights to bargain for better workplace rules.
"Today is a good day for TSOs, who have been paying for TSA's bad decisions and mismanagement for too long," AFGE President John Gage said. "The passage of the bill reaffirms the committee's support for the employees and AFGE, the union that has gone above and beyond for TSO workplace rights."
The bill, H.R. 1881, will strengthen the country's aviation security by providing a workplace that promotes fairness and excellence, Gage added. The bill is urgently needed also because PASS continues to demoralize the workforce and management continues to ignore their concerns.
AFGE worked closely with House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and other leading lawmakers including Reps. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, in drafting and introducing the bill in the House earlier this year. AFGE yesterday wrote to Thompson, urging the committee to pass the bill.
"TSOs seek and the legislation provides a systematic and fair manner to deal with real day-to-day issues in the workplace that when appropriately resolved result in a strong, loyal workforce," AFGE Legislative Director Beth Moten said in the letter. "It is wrong to even suggest that a true voice at work is somehow detrimental to the nation's security interests or that the TSO workforce can only accomplish its duties with restricted rights."
The bill is AFGE's latest effort in its eight-year fight to win TSO workplace protections. After the screening workforce was federalized in 2001, TSA – despite Congress' intent and the public's demand for a highly-trained, well-compensated, and fully empowered professional federal workforce – unilaterally decided that the agency is not bound by the rules and laws that govern the federal workforce, such as the Rehabilitation Act, the Civil Service Reform Act, Office of Personnel Management's compensation and leave rules, veteran preferences, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. As a result, TSA has among the highest attrition and injury rates and lowest morale in the federal government.
AFGE, with strong backing from the powerful AFL-CIO, repeatedly has urged Congress to support legislation that grants TSOs the same collective bargaining rights and workforce protections as other federal workers. In 2007, similar language granting collective bargaining was deleted from the 9/11 bill after then-President Bush threatened to veto the bill despite being approved by majorities in both the House and Senate. Since that time, AFGE membership at TSA has more than doubled to stand at 11,000 as TSOs became more committed to the fight to win their long-withheld workplace rights.

AFGE Thanks Lawmakers for Supporting H.R. 1881

AFGE today thanked the 130 cosponsors of H.R. 1881, which would grant TSOs the same workplace protections as other federal workers, for their support and expressed its hopes for a swift markup on July 9.

H.R. 1881, the Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act, would give TSOs the right to bargain collectively for fair and uniform workplace rules. It would do away with TSA's highly subjective pay system, the Performance Accountability and Standards System (PASS), and would move TSOs under the General Schedule system, which covers most federal employees.

“PASS and many other TSA labor and employee relations practices that ignore federal worker rights need to go,” said AFGE National President John Gage. “It is essential that TSOs are afforded the same rights to negotiate over important workplace issues, due process, whistleblower protections, veterans' preference, appropriate salaries, fair pay increases, and leave policies as other federal workers—including other Department of Homeland Security employees—such as those working for the Border Patrol, FEMA, and Coast Guard—all of whom are represented by AFGE.”

AFGE, with strong backing from the powerful AFL-CIO, repeatedly has urged Congress to support legislation that grants TSOs the same collective bargaining rights and workforce protections as other federal workers. In 2007, similar language granting collective bargaining was deleted from the 9/11 bill on threat of veto by then-President Bush. Since that time, AFGE membership at TSA has more than doubled as TSOs became more committed to the fight to win their long-withheld workplace rights.

AFGE thanks Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chair Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas for introducing the bill in April, and the 130 cosponsors who have shown their support for TSOs.

“AFGE is the only union that can truthfully and proudly say that it has been fighting for collective bargaining for the entire eight years TSA has been in existence,” Gage said. “This is a battle not just for bargaining rights, but for the respect and dignity long overdue to TSOs.”

AFGE has represented the TSA workforce since the agency was created in 2001. The union currently has approximately 11,000 dues-paying TSA members in 32 Locals nationwide.

AFA-CWA Voices Support for AFGE's TSA Campaign

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has voiced support for AFGE's eight-year campaign to win collective bargaining rights for TSOs and is urging TSOs to join AFGE to continue the fight for the workplace rights they deserve.
"Our union has been following the progress of your organizing with the American Federation of Government Employees across the entire country in all of the airports where we fly," said AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend in a letter to TSOs. "We understand your struggle. We understand how difficult it can be: what employers can do to keep you from free association, which we all know is protected by our constitution, even if our employers try to make us think differently."
Thanking TSOs for keeping the skies safe, Friend said flight attendants rely heavily on TSOs' skills and watchful eyes to ensure the safe transport of the millions of passengers they carry everyday. TSOs are skilled professionals and deserve to be treated as such. She urged TSOs to join AFGE, which is part of the larger AFL-CIO, and enjoy the support of 11 million union brothers and sisters in 56 organizations.
"Put simply, having a union is a more sophisticated way of doing business," Friend said. "You can either each have your own direct relationship with management and be subjected to whims and personalities, or you can come together and have a contract that applies to all."
AFA-CWA is the most recent of several AFL-CIO affiliated unions committed to helping AFGE and its TSO members in their fight for labor rights. AFGE Attorney Chad Harris addressed AFA-CWA's convention delegates in Washington, D.C., last month about the union's campaign and TSOs' struggle. Dozens of AFA-CWA officers at different airports have offered assistance to AFGE activists working on the TSA campaign.
"AFGE's affiliation with the AFL-CIO has been a powerful asset to TSOs over the years. With millions of union members backing our call for collective bargaining rights, we know that it is just a matter of time before TSA's resistance to organization falls like a house of cards," said AFGE President John Gage. "TSOs can ill-afford to be associated with any so-called union that chooses to keep itself outside of the house of labor. As workers, we either all stand together or we fall prey to the management ploy of divide and conquer."
Gage has been asked to provide an update on the progress of the campaign to win full bargaining rights for the TSA workforce at the AFL-CIO convention to be held in Pittsburgh in September.

House Panel to Vote on TSO Bargaining Rights Bill

The bill that would grant TSA workers collective bargaining rights and the same workplace protections as other federal workers is scheduled to be debated and voted on by the House Homeland Security Committee July 9.
The Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act, H.R. 1881, would give TSOs the right to bargain collectively for better workplace rules. It would do away with TSA's highly subjective pay system, the Performance Accountability and Standards System, and would move TSOs under the General Schedule system, which covers most federal employees.
AFGE has been working closely with lawmakers in drafting the bill, which AFGE believes would address TSA's personnel issues such as low morale, high attrition and injury rates.
"PASS and other current TSA workplace practices that ignore federal worker rights need to go," said AFGE President John Gage. "It is essential that TSOs are afforded the same rights to negotiate over important workplace issues, due process, whistleblower protections, veterans' preference, appropriate salaries, fair pay increases, and leave policies as other federal workers—including those in the Department of Homeland Security."
The bill was introduced in April by Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chair Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

High Test Failure Rates Spark Controversy over PASS Payouts

The unusually high fail rates of the TSA's controversial recertification tests are raising eyebrows and triggering anger and resentment among TSA employees, many of whom believe the agency is intentionally failing workers so that it doesn't have to hand out a large amount of raises and bonuses.

AFGE is sending a letter to House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson to call for an investigation into whether the Practical Skills Evaluation tests are administered properly, whether the same standards are applied across the country, and whether TSOs and testers are trained properly. The union also sent letters to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides, urging TSA to suspend the PSE until the tests have been reviewed. AFGE asked that TSA provide failure rates by airport, that TSA reinstate all TSOs who have been removed because of the failures, and that the failures be cleared from their records so their Performance Accountability and Standards System scores and pay are not affected.

The high failure rates at airports across the country are surprising to TSA workers. The BWI, Newark, and Miami airports are seeing half of their work forces fail the test this year. The number is higher – 70 percent – at the Cleveland and Indianapolis airports. It is between 80 and 85 percent at the Los Angeles, Washington-Dulles, Raleigh-Durham, and Houston airports. Transportation Security Officers said the PSE tests they were given are highly subjective and don't accurately reflect their performance.

One Houston TSO told AFGE last week that he took his PSE test about two months ago and failed the hand wand and body pat down tests. Even though he was able to find all the alarm items on the tester, he was given a failing grade because the tester said he was too far away and didn't cover well enough. A TSO at BWI took her test last week and failed the body pat down part even though she too found all the alarm items. When asked what she did wrong, the tester, who was from a different airport, couldn't explain. The TSO retook the test with a tester from BWI the following day, did exactly the same thing and passed.

"If I failed because they do things differently at other airports, that's not right. Everybody needs to be doing the same thing," she said, furious that the tester could not tell her why she failed the first time.

Because of the failure, the TSO said she now won't get a Role Model rating, which comes with a 3.5 percent raise and a $2,000 bonus. The most she could get is an Exceeds Standards, which offers half of the Role Model's bonus amount and a 2 percent raise. She also won't get a $250 bonus given to those who get a perfect score on the first try.

But subjectivity is only part of the whole problem. Several airports hire contractors to train, test, and retrain TSOs, potentially creating conflicts of interest and an incentive to fail workers. There also is an issue of inadequate training. Several TSA and congressional reports show TSOs are not given enough training to do their jobs as airports are constantly short-staffed. The workers also feel the pressure to work as fast as they can to keep the lines moving, otherwise they can't take a break or might even get customer complaints.

"TSOs have been put in a no-win situation," said AFGE President John Gage. "They are losing thousands of dollars because TSA has bungled its personnel system and ignored their concerns."
AFGE is conducting a survey on the PSE at www.tsaunion.net, where the union urges TSOs to share their experiences. It is important that TSOs take part in the survey and urge their co-workers to participate as the data will be shared with Secretary Napolitano, so that we can address the issue.

TSOs, AFGE Press Administration for Collective Bargaining Rights

AFGE President John Gage last week called the White House to request that the administration fulfill its promise to AFGE regarding collective bargaining rights for TSOs. While understanding that the president has a lot on his plate, AFGE stressed that the TSOs have waited long enough.
"President Obama is a leader who understands the true importance of fairness," Gage said. "In this case, fairness for TSOs simply means that they should be granted the same rights as other federal workers without undue delay."
Obama and Gage met during the presidential campaign last year. Shortly afterward, the White House contender wrote Gage to express his support for AFGE's fight to win TSO collective bargaining rights. After Obama took office, AFGE has been in constant contact with the White House. The union met with the DHS transition team last winter. Gage met with Napolitano shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate. Then there were a follow-up meeting with her chief of staff and constant communications with the White House team. Meanwhile, AFGE has been actively working with lawmakers to pass a bill recently introduced to end TSA's controversial pay system and move TSOs under the General Schedule, the personnel system that covers most federal employees.
But AFGE's efforts to win TSO collective bargaining rights started years before Obama took office. AFGE was the first union to call for the federalization of the screening workforce after the 2001 terrorist attacks. When the workforce was federalized but wasn't allowed to bargain collectively, AFGE repeatedly wrote to TSA and actively lobbied Congress to address the issue, which led to introductions of bills that would grant TSOs workplace rights.
Despite enormous resistance from the Bush White House, AFGE and TSOs continued their push with airport sit-ins and meetings with members of Congress. Even though TSOs do not have collective bargaining rights, AFGE continued to represent its TSO members before the Disciplinary Review Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in meetings with management.
Today, more than 10,000 TSOs have joined AFGE to demand the right to bargain over issues such as scheduling, leave, health and safety standards, performance evaluation, training, and benefits. TSOs have been working under arbitrary rules and a hostile environment that have turned TSA into the worst place to work in DHS and among the worst in the entire government for many years in a row.

Sign the petition asking for full bargaining rights at TSA here: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/TSAPetition

U.S. Rep Nita Lowey Shows Support for AFGE TSA Members at New York Event

United States Representative Nita Lowey joined the American Federation of Government Employees at an event on April 27, calling for full workplace protections for Transportation Security Officers. Lowey recently introduced H.R. 1881, legislation that grants TSOs the same collective bargaining rights and workforce protections as other federal workers and ends TSA’s flawed and unfair Performance and Accountability Standards System.

“The assault on the nation’s Transportation Security Officers has gone on for far too long and must come to an end,” said AFGE National President John Gage. “Rep. Lowey’s bill will help make President Obama’s commitment to grant TSOs collective bargaining rights and workplace protections into reality for the tens of thousands of men and women who stand on the front lines protecting this nation.”

Lowey on April 27 met with members of AFGE’s Local 2222, which encompasses New York and New Jersey. AFGE has been the only union to represent TSA employees since the agency's inception and with more than 10,000 members in 32 Locals across the country, is widely recognized as the TSA union.

AFGE and Rep. Lowey have worked closely together in the past. After the House passed TSA collective bargaining language in its 9/11 Commission bill in January 2007, Lowey and AFGE held a joint press conference with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. After a Bush veto threat resulted in that language being removed, Lowey introduced a stand-alone bill offering the same rights. AFGE was first to stand behind Lowey and helped gain dozens of cosponsors for the bill.

“AFGE can rightly and proudly say that we have been the only union at airports around the country for eight years fighting for the respect and dignity due TSOs,” Gage added. “We will take our fight for passage and enactment of H.R. 1881 to every airport and to the public in every congressional district across the country so well protected by this deserving workforce.”