On the recordFebruary 7, 2011
I called up my amendment last week. This amendment would prohibit TSA employees from entering into collective bargaining agreements. A lot has happened since I called up my amendment. The Transportation Security Administrator announced his intent on Friday to proceed with allowing TSA security employees to collectively bargain. That would reverse a decade of policy--since the inception of TSA, actually. Currently, TSA employees are not allowed to collectively bargain. The 2001 law that created TSA gives this decision to the Administrator, and previous Administrators have understood that collective bargaining agreements for TSA could compromise our Nation's security. TSA employees have been treated like those of the FBI, the CIA, and the Secret Service for purposes of collective bargaining. These personnel are treated very well by our government and taken care of in other ways. But because of the security concerns, collective bargaining is prohibited for those security personnel. Frankly, I think many observers would conclude that the current administration is intent on doling out rewards to campaign supporters and, therefore, is moving to reverse this decade-old decision and allow for collective bargaining among TSA employees.
