Over at Opinion Zone, Tina Korbe relates the comments of former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on unionization of the Transportation Security Administration:
A unionized Transportation Security Administration threatens to undermine the flexibility required by the federal agency, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned yesterday.
“I was part of the [Bush] administration when we built the TSA, and the department concluded for a variety of reasons, including the flexibility of the workforce, that we shouldn’t unionize,” Ridge said at an event about aviation security.
Ridge said former TSA administrators opposed unionization for good reason — and urged current Administrator John Pistole to be cautious as he reverses agency policy and allows transportation security officers to vote for collective union representation for the first time.
“It appears that this administration and Administrator Pistole have decided that, in the end, it will be unionized … but I think, if they’re going to go down that path, I hope that they give those … who have responsibility of the security … plenty of latitude with regard to employment, with regard to hours, with regard to responsibilities because it’s just not an arena where you want to have everything [tied] to a process that may take months when the security officer has hours or maybe minutes to make those decisions.”
“I was part of the [Bush] administration when we built the TSA, and the department concluded for a variety of reasons, including the flexibility of the workforce, that we shouldn’t unionize,” Ridge said at an event about aviation security.
Ridge said former TSA administrators opposed unionization for good reason — and urged current Administrator John Pistole to be cautious as he reverses agency policy and allows transportation security officers to vote for collective union representation for the first time.
“It appears that this administration and Administrator Pistole have decided that, in the end, it will be unionized … but I think, if they’re going to go down that path, I hope that they give those … who have responsibility of the security … plenty of latitude with regard to employment, with regard to hours, with regard to responsibilities because it’s just not an arena where you want to have everything [tied] to a process that may take months when the security officer has hours or maybe minutes to make those decisions.”
