In a letter to the American Federation of Government Employees stating his concerns for DHS, president-elect Obama stated that he "supports collective bargaining rights for all workers."
He pledged to "review decisions by the Bush administration that have denied these rights to federal employees and seek to restore them."
The letter also spoke against the concept of pay for performance, saying the current administration, by under-funding related initiatives, created systems that reward some employees at the expense of other employees.
Obama called that concept "unfair," saying it harms morale. "In all of my administration’s hiring decisions, I will work to ensure that each nominee has a clear understanding of the labor-management collective bargaining process and my commitment to assuring its fairness."
Transportation security officers, who currently may join unions but do not have collective bargaining rights, could get those rights under an Obama administration. Obama, in another letter to AFGE, said that "Advocating for TSOs to receive collective bargaining rights and workplace protections will be a priority."
The letter notes that other law enforcement agencies enjoy collective bargaining rights, including Border Patrol Agents, Federal Protective Officers, and the Capitol Police.
Obama said he supported as well, a re-examination of the TSA’s Performance Accountability and Standards System — which the current TSA administrator, Kip Hawley, has tried to re-tool and criticized as cumbersome — and raised the possibility of replacing it with the GS system.
The letter also raised the possibility of tighter contracting rules at TSA, citing a recent award of a $1.2 billion HR services contract "without regard to the rules that require them to allow current TSA employees to compete for that work."