TSA

The liberal magazine The Nation hailed the election that resulted in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) becoming the union for the Transportation Security Administration.

AFGE won a runoff election this week with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) for the right to represent TSA workers.

The magazine said Friday that the win was significant.

"These are tough times for labor unions," the paper said in an op-ed titled "TSA Gets Some Security of Its Own." "They are under attack in the private sector and at all levels of government. But workers are waking up to the reason for the attacks: Unions are essential sources of protection for essential workers.

"So it is that the labor movement has now secured one of the most important victories of recent years in a high-profile area of the public sector," the article continues.

Children under 12 will not be automatically required to be patted down, according to the new policy.

The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a staunch critic of the Transportation Security Administration slammed the agency's union election.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) won the right to collectively bargain for the TSA in a runoff election that was concluded Thursday.

But Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said travelers will lose as a result of the election.

“The traveling public will be absolutely delighted to learn that big labor has captured the TSA’s army of airport screeners," Mica said in a statement released by his office. "With the American Federation of Government Employees union selection, the nation’s largest union for government workers will collectively bargain for nearly 50,000 of America’s airport screeners."

The election to collectively bargain for Transportation Security Administration employees was won by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), union officials announced Thursday. 

AFGE had been competing in a runoff with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), but the former claimed victory.

"We are obviously thrilled with the election results, but more importantly are delighted that the Transportation Security Officers now will have the full union representation they rightly deserve," AFGE President John Gage said in a statement.

"AFGE thanks the TSOs for their support and faith in our union," he continued. "AFGE anticipates developing a cooperative and cohesive relationship with TSA as we move to forge a collective bargaining contract that TSOs so desperately need." 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

U.S. Airways let a man fly in women's panties after it rejected a man for wearing baggy pants.

Idaho could follow in Texas's footsteps and try to ban pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration.

Sprint Airlines will charge to print boarding passes at the airport.

Striking bus drivers in Virginia have been fired.

Lawmakers called Wednesday for increased rail security in the wake of threats from slain terrorist Osama bin Laden, and Transportation Security Administration officials detailed their efforts to protect transit passengers in the U.S.

But each agreed it was unlikely railways would ever be as secure as airports.

“We must continue to work with travelers to make them full partners in securing our rail and transit systems,” Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said in a hearing titled "See Something, Say Something, Do Something: Next Steps for Securing Rail and Transit." 

“Speed, reliability, and convenience are hallmarks of mass transit," Lieberman continued. "But with so many passengers at so many stations, along so many routes, these systems are very difficult to secure. It is simply not possible to install permanent aviation-level security checkpoints without impeding the flow of traffic. But there is much more TSA can and should do and more that state and local governments and transit agencies can and should do.”

The GOP senator said recent reports that TSA had given children pat-downs made him feel less safe.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The National Transportation Safety Board said distraction was the cause of a duck boat accident.

The Department of Transportation's inspector general will investigate the oversight of the Washington MetroRail expansion to Dulles International Airport.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is bringing a bill to ban Transportation Security Administration pat-downs there up for a vote.

Cincinnati is closing one of its airport's main terminals for remodeling.

The Transportation Security Administration's proposed firing of more than 30 employees at Hawaii International Airport for improperly screening checked baggage should be investigated, a pair of staunch congressional critics of the agency said Tuesday.

GOP Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) wrote a letter to the acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security that was obtained by The Hill. In it, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the separate House Homeland Defense subcommittee said the proposal firings raise questions about TSA's effectiveness.

Mica and Chaffetz have pushed for more private airport security screenings, arguing that they would be more effective than government employees from the TSA.

"We, along with our colleagues in Congress, continue to be concerned with the Transportation Security Administration's management and oversight of its federal screener operations," they wrote to acting DHS Inspector General Charles Edwards.

The state lawmaker pushing Texas to ban Transportation Security Administration pat-downs is calling on a man mentioned as possible presidential contender to help pass the bill: Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R).

State Rep. David Simpson said in a letter to the governor, whose moves are now being watched by national observers, that Perry could help convince lawmakers to pass the bill before a special session of the Texas Legislature ends. Perry, who is flirting with a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, is seen as potential top-tier candidate in a field whose only southerners are former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former pizza magnate Herman Cain.

"You write in your book, Fed Up, that you want to 'help foster a nationwide conversation about the role of government in our lives,'" Simpson wrote to Perry. "I can think of no role less suitable for our federal government than that of routinely violating innocent citizens of this state and those of the entire country.