The move, which affects tens of thousands of employees, comes less than a year after TSA’s workforce solidified a landmark labor agreement. The DHS public affairs office characterized the move as DHS increasing efficiency, safety, and “organizational agility.”
DHS said that a “select few poor performers” had been taking advantage of the agreement’s family and sick leave policy. DHS’s press release also claimed that nearly 200 officers, out of TSA’s screening workforce of approximately 47,000, work “full time” on union matters.
“Thanks to Secretary Noem’s action, Transportation Security Officers will no longer lose their hard-earned dollars to a union that does not represent them,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in the press release.
“The Trump administration is committed to returning to merit-based hiring and firing policies. This action will ensure Americans will have a more effective and modernized workforce across the nation’s transportation networks. TSA is renewing its commitment to providing a quick and secure travel process for Americans,” the spokesperson continued.
It was not immediately clear how DHS would end the seven-year agreement that was reached last year. The agreement was seen as a major expansion in collective bargaining for TSOs as it replaced a previously limited collective bargaining agreement. TSOs received a significant pay increase under President Joe Biden’s administration.
In a statement Friday, American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley called the move to end collective bargaining for TSO’s “clear retaliation” against the union, noting claims about union officials and time were “clearly fabricated.”
“Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion. Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action,” Kelley said.
“Let’s be clear: this is the beginning, not the end, of the fight for Americans’ fundamental rights to join a union,” Kelley added. “AFGE will not rest until the basic dignity and rights of the workers at TSA are acknowledged by the government once again.
House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said DHS was “lying about TSA’s work” and “relying on antiquated and flat-out wrong anti-union talking points.”
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“DHS claiming that TSA has more people doing ‘full-time union work’ than ‘performing screening functions’ at most airports is clearly nonsense,” Thompson said. “Similarly, promotions are already merit-based and often only occur with the assistance of the union, not despite it. To the Trump administration and Secretary Noem, this isn’t about improving security or the workforce. It’s about diminishing a workforce so they can transform it in the mold of Project 2025.”
“This will make us all less safe — and I hope it is challenged in court,” he added.
