Bush admin:
No union
for airport screeners
Compiled by Willy Rosencrans
Jan. 14 (AGR)— 56,000 airport screeners were stripped of their right
to form a union when the Bush administration issued an order on Thursday
that said workers’ collective bargaining rights are "not compatible"
with national security. A union representing government workers said it
will continue to organize federal airport security workers despite the
order.
The screeners are employees of the newly created Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), an agency of the Transportation Department established
last year in an overhaul of security at more than 400 commercial airports
after Sept. 11.
James Loy, head of TSA, signed the order, citing his authority under
federal law. Labor groups and their allies in Congress reacted sharply
to the decision, which was not unexpected and followed a bitter fight
late last year in Congress over labor protections for workers in the new
US Homeland Security Department.
"Fighting terrorism demands a flexible workforce that can rapidly
respond to threats," Loy said. "That can mean changes in work
assignments and other conditions of employment that are not compatible
with the duty to bargain with labor unions."
"When it comes to responding to new intelligence or terrorist threats
on a moment’s notice, we don’t have time to check with a shop
steward," said Loy’s spokesperson, Robert Johnson.
Workers who screen baggage and passengers at New York’s LaGuardia
Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Pittsburgh International
Airport and Midway Airport in Chicago had petitioned the Federal Labor
Relations Authority to allow workers to begin an organizing campaign to
join the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
Diane Witiak, spokesperson for AFGE, said the union has received thousands
of complaints from agency workers. Screeners have been forced to work
21-hour shifts and paychecks have been delayed by a month. She also claimed
some workers have been sexually harassed and that employees want to be
issued protective equipment when searching baggage for explosives.
Johnson acknowledged some worker’s paychecks were delayed because
of paperwork problems caused by the rapid hiring of 23,000 baggage screeners
and 33,000 passenger screeners in less than a year. The agency is working
to pay all workers quickly.
"Getting this agency running in less than a year, and meeting the
deadlines that were laid out in the law, has required a lot of people
to work long hours," Johnson said.
He said the agency will not stand for sexual harassment, and long hours
and sudden shift changes will become less of an issue as agency operations
become more routine. Loy said TSA screeners will have whistleblower and
equal employment opportunity protections.
Witiak said AFGE intends to press forward with its organizing. The union
has to organize at each airport individually.
"We’re not abandoning these employees," she said. "We’re
going to continue our organizing campaign."
Collective bargaining rights were a major issue in the debate over creating
the Homeland Security Department. President Bush demanded the ability
to deny collective bargaining rights for workers in the newly created
Homeland Security Department and even threatened to veto homeland security
legislation if workers’ collective bargaining rights were included.
Loy’s order provoked an angry outcry from labor and its Congressional
allies.
"This is a ruse if there ever was one….The Bush administration
has shown once again that the war it cares most about is the one that
it is waging on the US government workforce," said AFGE President
Bobby Harnage. The order is "akin to saying that being a union member
gives aid and comfort to the enemy," said Sonny Hall of the AFL-CIO.
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) pointed out that the administration already
has the authority to suspend collective bargaining rights during a true
national emergency. "It’s not homeland security, it’s union-busting,"
Kennedy said in a statement.
And Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said, "To have some has-been admiral
suggest that [the workers] somehow represent a threat to America is an
insult. Have you no decency, sir?"
AFGE will seek court action to block the order.
Sources: AFL-CIO, AP, Reuters, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
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