Mon, Mar 15, 2010
AFGE Urges Congress To Pass The TSA Workforce Enhancement
Act
The American Federation of Government Employees has publicly
thanked House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson
(D-MS), Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection
Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and
Representative Nita Lowey, (D-NY) for their support and sponsorship
of H.R. 1881, the Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement
Act.
"We've been working closely with Representatives Thompson, Lee
and Lowey to get H.R.1881 passed. Since 2006, we have fought
side-by-side with them for workplace rights and for fair pay for
Transportation Security Officers across the country and their
cooperation and work with us have been unwavering. They recognize
that the nation's TSOs have gone far too long without a true voice
at work," said John Gage, national president of the American
Federation of Government Employees.
Representative Lowey, House Homeland Security Committee Chair
Thompson and Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection
Subcommittee Chair Lee introduced the TSA Workforce Enhancement
Act, legislation that would repeal the Aviation and Transportation
Security Administration (ATSA) footnote that gives TSA the ability
to prevent third-party oversight of decisions affecting employees,
and goes on to grant TSOs the same collective bargaining rights and
workplace protections as other federal workers - including those in
DHS.
During AFGE's recent legislative conference, Rep. Lowey
addressed a rally in front of AFL-CIO headquarters where hundreds
of supporters had gathered to call for full collective bargaining
rights at the agency. Lowey told the cheering crowd that she would
continue to work for the passage of the bargaining rights
legislation and thanked TSOs for their service to our nation's
flying public.
Rep. Lowey Addresses AFGE
Rally
AFGE, with strong backing from the AFL-CIO, has repeatedly urged
Congress to pass H.R. 1881. "This legislation will not only give
TSOs the right to bargain collectively," said Gage. "It will move
TSOs under the General Schedule system under which most federal
employees are covered."
AFGE has represented the TSA workforce since the agency was
created in 2001. The union currently has approximately 12,000
dues-paying TSA members in 36 Locals nationwide.
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