House Democrats have discharged a political debt and given thousands of airport security staff the right to unionize.
Democrats repealed a footnote in previous legislation that prevents employeesof the Transportation Security Administration from organizing into unions or using whistle-blower protection laws.
The repeal was a victory for the American Federation of Government Employees, which has tried to organize airport security officers since the TSA was created in 2002.
“This is a great day for working people everywhere,” AFGE president John Gage said Wednesday during a conference call at the union’s D.C. offices.
AFGE already represents about 45,000 workers in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. There are about 42,000 TSA employees affected by Tuesday’s legislation.
The legislation was steered through by Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., new chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
Thompson said Wednesday that the Democrats took back Congress thanks to AFGE.
“Without your hard work, this press conference could not be,” Thompson said. “There’s no substitute, in this town, for being in charge.”
No one has formally introduced the legislation in the Senate, but Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has said he supports it.
The Bush administration has been critical of the legislation. In a statement released late Tuesday, the administration said that unionization would disrupt the “flexibility” TSA needs to keep the country safe. Lowey rejected that criticism Wednesday. TSA has nearly 30 percent turnover and leads all federal agencies in workplace injuries, Lowey said.
“We need workers who have mastered the job and will make a career of protecting the flying public,” she said.
