AFGE, TSA to Start New Contract Negotiations
July 16, 2015
Categories:
TSA
It’s been three years since AFGE signed the historic first-ever labor-management contract with TSA. Since then, AFGE members at TSA have stood together to ensure the safety of their TSA colleagues while delivering upon the mission to protect the flying public. Now it’s time to review the current contract and make it even better for TSOs.
"The upcoming contract negotiations are an important opportunity for TSOs to have their concerns heard and demand improvements in working conditions," said Hydrick Thomas, AFGE TSA Bargaining Council 100 President.
Contract negotiations begin Aug. 9 and are expected to continue into December.
TSOs have done an outstanding job protecting air travelers. In 2014 alone, TSOs nationwide discovered a record 2,212 firearms in carry-on bags at airports across the country. Of the guns confiscated by officers, more than 80 percent were loaded. Despite stopping these weapons from reaching the airplane, TSOs have seen violence by people outside the security checkpoint.
In 2013, a TSO at Los Angeles International Airport was killed and two others were wounded by a crazed gunman. Another was assaulted by a machete-wielding passenger at the New Orleans International Airport in 2014. Since these incidents, AFGE has campaigned heavily for greater protection for passengers and TSOs through a new, armed TSA Law Enforcement Unit. AFGE is also determined to gain full benefits for TSOs killed in the line of duty, just like many other federal employees in dangerous professions.
"[TSOs] perform an important public duty, protecting Americans and the traveling public from threats to our aviation, rail, and transit systems. They are the first line of defense at our airports, sea ports, and other transportation hubs. We should do right by them and their families if they are tragically killed in the line of duty."
Rep. Julia Brownley of California
The nation's airports also face the threat of returning to Pre 9-11 private sector screening practices. Airport security privatization means a significant cut in pay, benefits, and career development opportunities for TSOs, weakening the salary base in fragile local economies. Recently, AFGE members at the Orlando International Airport fought and won against a serious privatization push by anti-government forces in Congress. AFGE is committed to the idea that air safety is about people, not the profits, and TSOs are the ones who get the job done right.
Safety and privatization are not the only realms where AFGE represents TSOs. The union has fought and overturned unfair suspensions and terminations including the reinstatment of pregnant TSO Amanda Kincannon and recently another TSO who was cleared for duty, but terminated by the agency for health reasons anyway. We secured free parking for TSOs across the country, doubled your uniform allowance, and won the ability to trade shifts and schedules with your coworkers. Every day, AFGE fights to gain Title V rights for TSA Officers that are standard for our brothers and sisters in our agencies.
Show your support for the AFGE bargaining team: ask your co-workers to join AFGE.
Join the more than 16,000 AFGE TSOs who are already fighting to improve pay, benefits, and workplace rights for their coworkers. The more TSOs that join AFGE, the better the new contract will be, and the more safe and just our airports will become.
