The Trump administration’s push to expand the privatization of airport security screening functions ignores lessons learned from the Sept. 11 attacks and other airline tragedies and should concern every American, AFGE warned last week.
The Transportation Security Administration notified AFGE on July 20 that the agency intends to launch a new privatization program called TSA Gold+ at three airports next year: Tampa, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; and Des Moines, Iowa.
This new program would put private contractors in control not only of security screening functions but the screening technology itself – the very machines that detect explosives, weapons, and other prohibited items. While TSA staff theoretically would provide oversight, they would no longer be directly in charge of screening passengers or carry-on items at these participating airports.
“Make no mistake – this is a major departure and step backwards from the aviation screening security system that Congress created in the wake of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 and the deadly bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a press statement.
“Changes of this magnitude should not be made behind closed doors without the input of Congress, the flying public, the local airport authorities, and TSA employees themselves,” Kelley said.
TSA’s announcement blindsided workers and raises serious concerns about pay, safety, and accountability, AFGE Local 556 President Chris Finlay told reporters. The local represents TSA workers across central and north Florida, including at Tampa International Airport.
“They feel betrayed,” Finlay told ABC affiliate Tampa Bay 28.
Finlay previously worked at another Florida airport that privatized its passenger screening functions about 12 years ago. Promises of equal pay and job security didn’t materialize then, and he’s skeptical of the promises being made to TSA employees now.
“The stuff I’m hearing is almost exactly the same. The reasoning is a little bit different, but it’s deja vu all over again,” Finlay said.
This is not the only attempt by TSA to expand the privatization of airport security. The administration’s fiscal 2027 budget proposes to eliminate 8,400 TSO positions – roughly 14% of TSA’s screening workforce. About 4,500 of those positions would be replaced by private contractors through a proposed mandatory expansion of the Screening Partnership Program to include all small and non-hub airports, known as Categories III and IV, respectively. Currently about 20 of the nation’s 440 commercial airports have opted to use private screening, but the administration’s proposal would expand that number more than tenfold to about 220 airports.
“The Trump administration’s clear objective is to ultimately privatize all aviation security screening functions, and we don’t have to theorize about what that may look like because we have been through this before and witnessed the devastating and deadly consequences,” Kelley said. “The administration’s actions should concern all Americans, and AFGE will continue to speak out against any proposal that threatens our members’ jobs and jeopardizes the safety of the flying public.”
AFGE intends to fight this privatization push to the end. We are reviewing our legal options and will be reaching out to elected officials and airport stakeholders.
But we can’t fight this privatization push alone. We need you to talk to your friends, family, and coworkers about the importance of keeping TSA out of the hands of for-profit contractors, reach out to your lawmakers, and encourage all members to make the switch to AFGE E-Dues.
Click here for more on what you can do to get involved today.
AFGE Urges Lawmakers to Reject TSA Nominee
TSA announced the privatization expansion even as it operates without a Senate-confirmed leader, although President Trump’s nominee is on record supporting the expansion.
That’s one of the reasons why AFGE called for the nomination of David Cummins as the next TSA administrator to be withdrawn by the administration or voted down by the U.S. Senate. Cummins fails to meet three basic priorities that AFGE deems critical for the next administrator: respect workers’ rights, oppose further privatization of airport security, and have the necessary security experience and background.
AFGE outlined these priorities in a letter sent to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee ahead of Cummins’ confirmation hearing on July 16. AFGE Legislative Director Daniel Horowitz amplified our concerns in a separate letter to Senate committee members July 21, calling attention to the Gold+ expansion announced after Cummins’ hearing.
“Officers at Des Moines, Tampa, and any airport that follows would be pushed out of federal careers they signed up to build. This is precisely the instability a serious Administrator should be preventing, not accelerating.”
The Senate committee voted 15-13 along party lines July 22 to advance the nomination to the full Senate for consideration.
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