NTEU Presses TSA To Give Bargaining Rights to Screeners

By ARI PAUL

The National Treasury Employees Union April 22 called on the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to push for collective bargaining rights for employees, after a recent Federal survey showed that low morale was endemic in the agency.

In a letter to Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Edmund Hawley, who oversees the TSA, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said the numbers from a department survey of its employees showed that TSA screeners, who lack the right to collectively bargain, suffered acutely within DHS.

'Empower These Workers'

"I believe that the only way we can have the kind of engaged, professional workforce that you envisioned when you came to TSA is to allow these [screeners] to have collective bargaining rights," she said in her letter. "It is within your power to do so. With collective bargaining rights, employees become partners in the mission in a way that empowers them."

She said that the employee evaluation system did not adequately reward performance.

"Only 22.7 percent felt that creativity and innovation are rewarded, and this is in a position where we need to reward innovative thinking," she said. "Only 20.9 percent believe that promotions are based on merit, and 24.5 percent believe that differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way. In addition, 23.6 percent agree that pay raises depend on how well employees perform their jobs."

The NTEU represents TSA screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Last year, it organized screeners at John F. Kennedy International Airport, but many of those workers have switched to the American Federation of Government Employees, who represents screeners at airports nationwide.