Les Marzke

Lead Passenger Screener
Orlando International Airport

Hello, I'm Les Marzke, and I'm a lead passenger screener at Orlando International Airport.

Call me sentimental, call me patriotic, but I'm a normal person who loves to serve his country. In the late 1980s, I enlisted with the US Navy, and after my enlistment was up, I joined the Naval Reserve, of which I'm still a part as a Leading Petty Officer supervising more than 70 personnel in a law enforcement unit. In fact, half my unit was called up to serve Operation Iraqi Freedom and, despite the success of that effort, my call could still come any day as my unit continues to rotate personnel to and from duty.

When the technology firm I was working at shut its doors last summer, I set about finding a new job that would satisfy both my need to make a living and my desire to further aid in the protection of the United States. The creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), I thought, offered me that kind of opportunity. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening.

I joined the union because, in light of my experience so far at TSA, I can see no way that airport screeners will ever be able to adequately protect the flying public--and the people of the United States--unless we have a say in the working conditions and safety procedures that shape our jobs. Because of the way things are going now, I'm seeing the public's safety sacrificed in the name of efficiency and cost savings.

And yet, the make-up of the supervisory and management staff is apparently determined by contractor cronyism, favoritism and discrimination regardless of an employee's qualifications for airport security management - or lack thereof.

I can blow my whistle until my face turns blue, but it won't make a bit of difference until we screeners, the front-line protectors of the flying public, have a voice on the job. I'm talking about a real voice that comes straight from us, the employees--not some so-called "model working group" created by management, staffed by management and run by management. Until we have collective bargaining, I have no faith that reasonable job requirements and safety procedures will ever be put into place.

And why should I? Look at what happened to three screeners in Charlotte last month when they took their concerns about security at Douglas Airport to their local Eyewitness News TV program: two were demoted and one was suspended for five days without pay. One received a letter from TSA stating the reason for demotion was a failure to name the other whistleblowers who spoke to the reporter.

When TSA was created, screeners were exempted from the federal Whistleblower Protection Act, the same Act that applies to all other TSA and other federal employees. What we're left with is a procedure for having retaliatory acts against whistleblowers investigated by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel but the final decision remains with TSA.

Rather cold comfort, I'd say--especially when I see security nightmares and security violations around me every day. For instance, any number of airport and airline personnel are granted "back-door" access to Orlando's airport, without having to pass through a security checkpoint. A determined airport employee could easily pack a weapon into his backpack, and we'd never know until it was too late. Additionally, there are no background checks required by the TSA of any of these airport employees that are allowed to bypass the security checkpoint.

How do these choice selected supervisors and managers perform regarding security? Recently, you may recall the Government raised the National Threat Level to Orange - or High. During this time, a young middle-eastern male passenger was selected by the airlines for additional screening. During the screening process the screener found a knife in the passengers bag. They also found a photo album with numerous pictures from many angles of various high profile places including many NYC buildings, various bridges, Walt Disney World and more. The screener did not notice people in the photos, only the places. They also found what appeared to be a code-book, written entirely in Arabic, and a foreign VISA that expired in 2 days. The situation was brought to managements attention and the screener was told he was over reacting and there was not enough evidence to warrant further investigation. Management let the passenger go without notifying anyone or taking any precautions. **High Alert, Suspicious Passenger with knife, pictures and code book, expiring VISA** = No Action. Congressmen and Senators I urge you to heed our call, be part of the solution to fix this agency from the top down. Don't just wait until another tragedy occurs.

Recently I've learned the many ways that paperwork can be used as a weapon against employees, especially union members and vets. Never has one agency had such a knack for losing crucial forms, and then miraculously finding them just at the moment that management needs them to turn up. For example, when I returned to work after participating in AFGE's chartering of its TSA local and joining the union, all my payroll timesheets mysteriously started getting lost. Even ones faxed directly to the payroll manager. For more than a month, I just wasn't paid at all, and I was marked as taking leave without pay for all the days I actually worked. When questioned, the payroll manager and Director changed their stories multiple times during a single explanation. I have been told that they never received my time sheets, then they simply weren't signed, then they were received late, then unexplained administrative problems prevented my pay from being properly processed. I was charged extra fees by my bank for their errors and wire transfers, and have been told it is not their problem, and they will not pay these fees. One paycheck is still in question and a miscellaneous deduction for almost $400 has never been explained.

Employee notices about union activities, legally posted on the break room bulletin board, regularly disappear. Here I have a handbill that simply states employees' rights to participate in union activities. It has never lasted for more than a few hours on that bulletin board.

Workplace assignments are also used to send a message. Screener teams are routinely rotated between the passenger checkpoint where the work is continuous and stressful-and "air side" duties, where incoming international flights are received-and the work is more smoothly paced. Along with my paycheck troubles, I've seen my whole team deprived of this rotation ever since my return to Orlando after the charter event. We're the only team on the checkpoint not getting rotated - anymore.

In retrospect, I suppose I should have expected the sort of negligent treatment that we screeners--and, in turn, the flying public--have been subjected to at the hands of TSA. You see, my problems with TSA began even before I was hired. I had applied for a supervisor position, to which I would have brought a college degree, a B.A. in industrial psychology, Military law enforcement, civilian security guard, electronics and radar systems expertise and over 10 years management experience. As a veteran with over 16 years of service and a non-compensated service-connected disability, I was to have been accorded, by federal law, a 10-point veteran's preference for the job.

To handle the hiring process, TSA had contracted with NCS Pearson. The contractor told me that since they had no protocol for processing Veterans paperwork documenting my preference, they simply couldn't accept it. I was told to accept the position as a lead or screener, or be escorted out of the employment area by a police officer. So I signed on as a "lead" screener, having been told that once TSA had a human resources department of its own, the matter would be rectified.

During TSA orientation and again when TSA had its HR folks in place, they also refused to accept my Veterans paperwork, explaining that my preference no longer had any meaning, since it applied only to the hiring process--not in-house promotions to supervisor. After 9 months of letters, memos, numerous copies and promising to send letters to Congressmen and Senators the TSA finally recognized me as a Veteran, although still refusing to correct my position. However, many of the vets I work with have not been so lucky. Not only have they been denied their preference; they're not even accruing the vacation time they're supposed to be given according to federal law.

In the meantime, it came to my attention that many of the supervisors hired by TSA were former employees of Argenbright, the discredited contractor that had run much of US airport security operations prior to 9-11, and had been fined $1.2 million for allowing violent felons and illegal aliens to work as screeners in our nation's airports. I later found out that TSA had a stated policy of preferential treatment for former Argenbright employees--even as it refused to accept the preference I had been accorded by law as a veteran of the US armed forces.

I ask you, who would you rather have supervising security personnel at international airports in the US--a college-educated veteran of the US armed forces, with law enforcement and management experience or a former employee of a foreign-owned contractor whose claim to fame is its breaking of US laws. Many of these supervisors are between 19 and 23 years old. How can a 21 year old have the 5 years of experience as originally required ?

Meanwhile, TSA higher-ups remain free to select anybody they want, for any reasons, to serve as supervisors who oversee the screening operations. And the FSD in my airport, Mr. Charles Lutz, asserts that he is exempt from the guidelines for federal employment provided by the Office of Personnel Management. He also stated it is his Selective Process in which he chooses which Federal Rules, Regulations and Laws to follow. He recently asserted this when he explained that at Orlando, TSA would be hiring 14 new Screening Managers, and would use a private contractor to review the resumés for those positions. He was quick to add, though, that he wouldn't be bound by the contractor's recommendations, nor was he required to state the criteria by which candidates will be judged. I'll apply, of course, if only to finally get that Management position for which many others have been hired without the same requirements, but I'm not holding my breath.

At Orlando, we are frequently understaffed. During rush periods, screeners have been required to go without breaks for their entire shifts. Often there are over 15 people on one shift, on one checkpoint, that call in sick. This is not some kind of SARS epidemic, but a direct result of the abysmal morale of the screener workforce. How good would your concentration be if you hadn't eaten in six or seven hours?

I have knowledge of physical violence against screeners by TSA Managers and Passengers that have gone un-punished. Whenever a passenger complains, the first response of management is to counsel or reprimand the screener regardless if the allegations are baseless or the event ever occurred. On Saturday, a passenger complained about a screener that wasn't even there, the supervisor verbally reprimanded the screener when he returned from lunch, based solely on the passenger complaint and pressed for a written incident report. When the screener rightfully refused since he wasn't there, he was told he was being insubordinate.

I just watched part of the congressional hearings on CSPAN (no plug intended) regarding the patriot act, where Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked specifically about his having any personal knowledge of breeches in security in other areas. He replied that he did not, but that if anyone had any such knowledge to let him know so that he could get the problem fixed. WELL MR. ASHCROFT, I AM LETTING YOU KNOW.

Again, Congressmen and Senators, I urge you to heed our call, be part of the solution to fix this agency from the top down. Don't just wait until another tragedy occurs. Screeners are speaking up all across the country with similar problems. Read the newspapers, watch the TV - DO SOMETHING !

I joined AFGE for the same reasons I joined the Navy--to rest assured in my mind that I have done all I can to protect the land that I love so much. I'm proud to be part of an organization whose members--people from all different backgrounds and professions--stand on the front lines in the quest for a secure homeland.

Thank you.

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