You knew this was coming the day they created this bureaucracy…
TSA screeners voted this month to join the American Federation of Government Employees. There are 40,000 TSA airport screeners.
The Wall Street Journal reported, via Lucianne:
The American Federation of Government Employees said Thursday it has won the right to represent more than 40,000 airport-security screeners employed by the federal government, months after the Obama administration cleared the way for the workers to organize.
The screeners, who work for the Transportation Security Administration, chose the AFGE in a runoff vote against the National Treasury Employees Union by a margin of 8,903 to 8,447 votes. The vote began May 23 and ended Tuesday. In a previous vote tallied in April, neither of the two unions received the majority needed to win.
The TSA workers will only be able to bargain over a limited number of workplace issues—not pay- or security-related matters such as the deployment of personnel or equipment. They’ll also be banned from striking or engaging in work slowdowns. Allowable bargaining issues include performance evaluations or the bidding process for work shifts.
The Obama administration’s decision to grant the unionization rights drew fire from Republican lawmakers and praise from Democrats. Federal unions also applauded the move after years of trying to win bargaining rights for airport screeners hired in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.