The law creating TSA gave management a stronger hand in a variety of ways, and DHS did not allow collective bargaining there until about a decade later, in 2011. Image: ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek StaffThe AFGE union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s move, carried out through a DHS order, to strip bargaining rights from TSA screeners, saying that “tearing up a legally negotiated union contract is unconstitutional, retaliatory, and will make the TSA experience worse for American travelers.”
The suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington argues that the order violates the AFGE’s First Amendment right to advocate on behalf its members and violates the employee’s Fifth Amendment by stripping them of vested property rights without due process.
The action was one of many from the Trump administration against unions in the federal workplace, although may not set a precedent for doing the same in other agencies.
The law creating TSA gave management a stronger hand in a variety of ways, and DHS did not allow collective bargaining there until about a decade later, in 2011.
The recent order and the lawsuit represent the first test of whether negotiating rights there can be revoked once they were allowed.
Meanwhile, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, has reintroduced legislation (HR-2086) to put TSA employees under all regular “Title 5” provisions of civil service law for pay, bargaining and other purposes.
“I hope the courts will act to restore TSA’s existing collective bargaining agreement, which both parties entered into under full legal authority – but in the meantime, Congress should pass this bill to provide permanence to these workers’ rights,” he said.
Prior versions have advanced with the House under Democratic control, but not under Republican control.
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