The Transportation Security Administration just announced that it is ending collective bargaining for more than 40,000 TSA employees. A TSA press release makes the case that the union protects low performing employees who game the system to avoid work.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it is ending collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Transportation Security Officers, which has constrained TSA’s chief mission: to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe. 

Eliminating collective bargaining removes bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jumpstarting innovation...

Gaps in benefit programs, including non-verifiable Family and Medical Leave, are being exploited by a select few poor performers, placing greater burden on TSOs at the expense of American travelers and taxpayers.  

This includes instances, where a TSO requested sick leave seven months in advance. 

TSA has more people doing full-time union work than we have performing screening functions at 86% of our airports. Of the 432 federalized airports, 374 airports have fewer than 200 TSA Officers to preform screening functions. 

Nearly 200 TSA Officers are paid by the government but work full-time on union matters. These people do not retain certification to perform screening functions. Additionally, in a recent TSA employee survey, over 60% said poor performers are allowed to stay employed and, not surprisingly, continue to not perform...

The Transportation Security officers are losing their hard-earned dollars to a union that did not represent or protect their interests. The union has hindered merit-based performance recognition and advancement—that's not the American way.   

By eliminating the collective bargaining agreement, Transportation Security Officers will now have opportunities based on their performance, not longevity or union membership.

A spokesperson for AFGE said the move was illegal but did confirm the claim about the number of officers working solely on union business is accurate.

The move is a violation of the law, said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer for the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100. The union represents more than 40,000 TSA workers. Union-represented transportation security officers and the agency signed a new labor contract last year that was set to run through 2031...

The DHS announcement noted that nearly 200 TSA officers are paid by the government, but work full time on union matters. It goes on to say that 86% of airports have fewer than 200 TSA Officers to perform screening functions. 

This is an inaccurate picture, said Jones. Out of the 45,000 employees represented by the union, 193, or less than 1%, are paid to work on union matters, he said.

The AFGE signed a new seven-year contract with the government last year. The union claims this move is retaliation for their many actions to oppose the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

The federation and the TSA’s then-administrator, David Pekoske, signed the collective bargaining agreement in May of last year. It came amid a push by Homeland Security to improve the pay for the frontline workers, whose pay has historically lagged behind that of other government employees. Pekoske has credited the pay increases, which went into effect in 2023, as helping to improve employee retention and morale, areas where TSA has had challenges...

Instead, the union said, the decision was retaliation for its wider efforts challenging a range of decisions taken by the Trump administration that have affected federal workers. AFGE represents roughly 800,000 federal government workers in Washington, D.C., and across the country, and it has been pushing back on many of the administration’s actions such as firing probationary employees and cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

“Our union has been out in front challenging this administration’s unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” the union said. “Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action.”

AFGE is one of the unions that tried to stop the federal buyout offer sent to 2 million federal employees. They sued and, despite a brief delay, they lost in court after a judge determined they lacked standing to bring the case. The claim of retaliation is likely designed to position them when this is brought before the National Labor Relations Board. 

President Trump fired multiple people at the NLRB including Board Member Gwynne Wilcox in January. The NLRB is a considered an independent agency whose board members cannot be removed except for cause. In this case, the Trump administration cited the need to support the president's agenda as the cause. But yesterday a judge ruled that firing was illegal and ordered Wilcox reinstated. The Trump administration has appealed that decision to the DC Court of Appeals.

A federal judge on Thursday reversed the firing of a National Labor Relations Board member by President Donald Trump, with a scathing ruling that said “an American president is not a king.”

The ordered reinstating former NLRB chair Gwynne Wilcox came a month after she sued to be returned to the board.

“The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” Judge Beryl Howell wrote in the order Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

This is part of a larger argument over whether or not the President has the right to fire members of "independent agencies" such as the NLRB and the EEOC. The lower court clearly thinks he does not have power to do that, but it remains to be seen if the Supreme Court will agree. This case could become the test case for an alternate theory which argues the President should be allowed to fire any appointee working in the executive branch. All that to say, today's move to stop collective bargaining at the TSA is definitely headed to court and may not be fully resolved for some time.