Unions vying to represent TSA push senators to oppose amendments passed by House

The unions that are competing to represent workers at the Transportation Security Administration are both pushing lawmakers in the Senate to reject a $270 million cut in funding for airport security screeners that recently passed the House, as well as a measure aimed at curbing the eventual victor's influence.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) sent letters this weeks to Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) calling on them to remove the provision from Department of Homeland Security's appropriation bill, where it was added last week by House members. Inouye chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Landrieu leads the panel's subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Lieberman is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Akaka chairs that panel's subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management and the Federal Workforce.

In the letter, NTEU President Colleen Kelley wrote that the budget cut, which was designed by supporters of privatizing airport security personnel to reduce the number of federal workers TSA could hire, would deal "a significant blow to morale at the agency.”

Kelley said the amendment would result in the loss of 8,000 jobs.

"Poor morale at TSA contributes to inefficiencies at the agency," she wrote. "Poor workforce management has led to one of the highest attrition rates in the government, and high on-the-job injuries. Concerns have been voiced about increased costs and potential security gaps in our aviation systems because of this turnover and job dissatisfaction.”

Similarly, the American Federation of Government Employees, which is locked in a runoff with the NTEU in an election of TSA employees to be the agency's union, has also come out against an amendment by Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) to prevent whichever union is elected to represent the agency from using federal funds for collective bargaining. That amendment was passed on 218-205 vote, but AFGE president John Gage said it was "nothing but a repeat of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s unfounded attack on the right of all Americans to have a voice at work and the right to bargain collectively.

“Despite what Mr. Rokita claimed when he introduced his amendment, there is no evidence that collective bargaining rights have any negative impact on national security, nor that these rights undermine the ability of TSA or any other DHS employee to perform their duties,” Gage said last week in a statement. “Let us not forget that the 9/11 police and firefighter first responders all were union members with a collective bargaining contract, and it was AFGE police at Ft. Hood who didn’t stop to check their collective bargaining contracts before taking down a killer."

Gage said the AFGE was "mobilizing its supporters" against the amendment.

Voting in the runoff between AFGE and NTEU is expected to last most of this month.