A TSA union? What’s next — a union for the military?
The Obama election victory has heartened unions working to organize the Transportation Security Administration. According to Government Executive the American Federation of Government Employees and National Treasury Employees Union are moving quickly to take advantage of a new Democratic adminstration.
In 2007, federal unions attempted to have collective bargaining rights for TSA workers included in major homeland security legislation. But President Bush threatened to veto it, citing the collective bargaining provision, and the language was stripped from the final bill.
Obama has already indicated that he would favor unionization and compensation changes. However, those claims came from candidate Obama. As Commander-in-Chief his tune may change.
Once our security workers at the airports that the Bush administration considered part of our overall national defense system have a chance to organize, can union organizers in our military ranks be far behind. Philosophically, there is little difference.
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3 Responses to “A TSA union? What’s next — a union for the military?”
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get you head out of your arze. TSA employees are CIVILIAN workers (not military workers).
Yes, we perform some of the same functions, but so does the capital police, FBI, CIA, etc. Your comparison is not fully logical.
If workers could unite then we would have an opportunity to run the agency better…
Food for thought: Maybe the reason why the general flying public HATES the agency has more to do with the management decisions being made and not the worker implementing the stupid decisions.
Charlie, you know I am a long-time fan of yours, but this might well be the first of your columns with which I disagree. TSA Worker is right (except I don’t think your head is in your arse, hehehe). The TSA workers have a right to unionize and, if the offer to do so is put to their vote, they have the right to say yea or nay. Nothing wrong with that–saying yea or nay to an invitation to join a union is the American way. Not allowing the workers to even have that yea or nay is oppressive and Un-American.
It’s far too soon to say exactly or even approximately what Obama will do, since he was elected less than a week ago and his inauguration is still 2 months away.
Yippee, the TSA want to unionise.
If this does happen, does this mean that when they don’t get the pay increase they want, the union will have them go on strike?