DHS Ends Collective Bargaining For TSA, Which May Have Been Illegally Unionized
"TSA has more people doing full-time union work than we have performing screening functions at 86% of our airports."
Posted by Peter List, Editor | March 7, 2025
On Friday, the Trump Administration announced that is is ending collective bargaining for approximately 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees.
The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security (or DHS) and has been unionized by teh American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) since the Obama Administration.
“Eliminating collective bargaining removes bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jumpstarting innovation,” the DHS stated in Friday’s announcement.
A Focus on “Official Time” and performance. In its announcement, the DHS cited the government union practice of “official time”—which is when government employees conduct union business while being paid by the government (or the taxpayers).
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.
More to the Story? “Former President Barack Obama’s administration may have skirted the law when it moved to approve the unionization of Transportation Security Administration screeners in 2011,” the Washington Examiner reported last month.
Citing a lawsuit settled file by the Americans for Fair Treatment (AFFT)—a group that represents public-sector employees—the Examiner explains that the “group sought to uncover the legal rationale for allowing TSA screeners to unionize under the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal labor union.”
On its website, AFFT provides some more information, stating:
Under federal law, employees in authorized unions can file complaints and seek recourse through the independent board Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and eventually federal courts.
However, because TSA screeners were unionized without legal justification, they have been denied these essential rights.
….
The unionization of TSA screeners, which was approved during the Obama Administration, was done despite a clear prohibition by Congress against TSA screeners unionizing. AFFT’s lawsuit uncovered that the Administration never conducted any legal analysis to support this action. As a result, TSA screeners have been forced into an illegal union that lacks both legal authority and the safeguards that come with being part of a legitimate labor organization.
As with other actions taken by the Trump Administration, it is likely that the union will file suit against the Administration.
“Let’s be clear: this is the beginning, not the end, of the fight for Americans’ fundamental rights to join a union,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “AFGE will not rest until the basic dignity and rights of the workers at TSA are acknowledged by the government once again.”