TSA issues new labor-management guidelines

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released new labor-management relationship guidelines between the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the agency on Thursday.

TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger sent the new guidelines to all employees in the middle of ongoing contract negotiations between the TSA and the AFGE.

The AFGE said that the new guidelines fail to address the union’s main concerns with employee morale.

“This new determination proves once again that TSA is not interested in following the universally accepted norms of labor law,” J. David Cox, national president of the AFGE, said. “TSA wants to create a one-way relationship where the agency holds all of the cards, leaving TSA officers out to dry. For over a decade, AFGE has called on TSA to restore a collaborative, cooperative approach to our labor-management relations, but we need TSA to meet us halfway. TSA needs to stop treating these public servants like second class federal employees, and embrace a principled labor-management relationship like every other federal agency, including many others in Homeland Security.”

The two organizations will continue to negotiate for an additional 45 days, from Aug. 1 to Oct. 3.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and in the District of Columbia.