AFGE has mounted one of its most aggressive campaigns in recent memory to fight for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees who have been working without pay since the DHS funding lapse on Feb. 14. Over the past six weeks, the union has pressed its case on Capitol Hill, in court filings, in the national media, on social media, in airports, and in the streets.
The result: on Friday, March 28, President Trump signed an executive order directing DHS to immediately resume paying TSA employees. Partial back pay began arriving in bank accounts on Monday. That is a significant victory for TSA officers, and it came only after weeks of sustained pressure from our union.
"We are grateful that action was taken to pay the 47,000 TSA officers represented by AFGE," said Kelley after the executive order was signed. "Congress needs to continue working to pass a real, bipartisan appropriations deal that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running. And they must pass the Shutdown Fairness Act so that no politician, of either party, can ever hold a public servant's paycheck hostage again."
But AFGE is not letting up. Thousands of employees in other DHS components remain without pay. Congress left town for a two-week recess without passing a funding deal, and, as of this writing, is not scheduled to return until the week of April 13. The shutdown has now surpassed 44 days, making it the longest in American history. AFGE will keep fighting until every DHS employee is paid.
On March 24, AFGE National President Everett Kelley told lawmakers point-blank at a press conference: do not get on a plane for Easter recess without paying the workers who make it safe to fly. Nearly a dozen AFGE TSA Council 100 members joined the call to speak to over 100 media outlets who participated, generating hundreds of stories.
Earlier in the week, AFGE sent letters to every member of the House and Senate demanding they reopen DHS and pay workers before leaving town. AFGE's legislative team followed up with another letter to the full Senate, laying out the human cost of the shutdown in AFGE members' own words. One TSA local president had reported that members were asking whether their federal group life insurance policies cover suicide. That detail made it into the letter.
On the media front, AFGE national leaders and members at TSA have been everywhere: Fox & Friends, Newsmax, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and NPR. Members have hit the airwaves, including local TV in dozens of media markets across the nation. AFGE's communications team has been producing and pushing out social media content at a rapid pace, including short-form reels featuring TSA members telling their shutdown stories in their own words, plus clips from broadcast media appearances highlighting the crisis.
But we don't yet know what this means for thousands of other DHS employees at FEMA, the Coast Guard, and CISA. These workers and their families cannot wait. All DHS workers must be paid immediately.
AFGE has set up dedicated resources for members at afge.org/ShutdownResources.
AFGE has mounted one of its most aggressive campaigns in recent memory to fight for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees who have been working without pay since the DHS funding lapse on Feb. 14.
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On March 26, Dennis “Sarge” Guerrero, of AFGE Local 3511, traveled to Capitol Hill to testify on the need for the Department of Veterans Affairs to stop its plan to downgrade VA police officers.
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