The Trump administration said Friday that it is ending collective bargaining at the Transportation Security Administration, effectively revoking union protections for thousands of airport security officers.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security claimed the move would “safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe.”
“Eliminating collective bargaining removes bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility [and] enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jumpstarting innovation,” the agency said.
Workers at TSA, which Congress created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, do not enjoy the same union rights as employees at most other federal agencies. Bargaining rights can essentially be extended or rescinded at the will of the administrator.
Those rights were introduced at TSA by former President Barack Obama and strengthened under former President Joe Biden. But now they are being tossed aside by Trump.
HuffPost reported in December that Trump was likely to crack down on collective bargaining at TSA if he won the presidential election, and that he may look to crush unions at other agencies in the name of “national security.”
Many TSA workers are represented by the American Federation of Government Employees. The union has filed a slew of lawsuits aimed at blocking the White House’s effort to fire thousands of federal employees and eliminate federal agencies unilaterally.
In its statement, DHS claimed that TSA workers are “losing their hard-earned dollars” to the union ― even though paying union dues is entirely optional for federal employees, and they still reap the benefits of a union contract if they choose not to.
Mike Gayzagian, a TSA worker and the president of AFGE Local 2617 in New England, told HuffPost in December that union rights had helped improve low-paying TSA jobs and make it easier for the agency to retain employees. Eliminating union rights would make the work significantly worse, he predicted.
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“We’re worried about what’s going to happen next year, but hopefully we’re down on the bottom of [Trump’s] list,” Gayzagian said at the time.
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