The American Federation of Government Employees has claimed that it negotiated reduced punishment for some of the TSA workers found to have not been doing their jobs. Is this good?
Plus the union claims that it is now appealing all of the firings. Do we need this?
I’m sorry, but in a job where your failure to follow anti-terrorist procedures and inspect baggage may mean the death of hundreds of passengers, there is no room for second chances.
I am not anti-union. I have close family members who are members of unions and I can see plenty of good things that unions do. However, when unions defend workers who are not doing their jobs, especially in the realm of defending the public, I can’t agree with their actions.
The employees in question were accused by the TSA of failing to check luggage for explosive devices in 2010.
The agency, which first recommended the firings in June, said then it conducted an “extensive investigation” into the incidents.
Some Republicans in the House, who have pushed to privatize airport security, called at the time for an investigation into the firings.
Forty-eight employees at the Honolulu were involved in the investigation, but TSA said Monday that three had resigned or retired.
At a time when the president is calling for an immediate doubling of the security fees paid for by passengers at airports, do we want to be saddled with costs to keep workers who can’t follow instructions employed? Sorry, but I have no sympathy. The charges were investigated and serious enough that some TSA workers resigned or retired.
At the same time that the President is calling for a doubling of our security fees, John Mica (R-FL), the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been calling for the privatization of TSA’s airport inspection program.
This introduction of unions into TSA is just making the bureaucracy larger and more unwieldy. These firings took place after an investigation of around six months and then more bureacratic hemming and hawing and union objections.
The screenings that had been questioned took place in the final months of 2010. TSA said when it announced the proposed firings that it regularly tests security operations at airports to make sure its protocols are being followed.
TSA holds its workforce to the highest ethical standards and we will not tolerate employees who in any way compromise the security of the traveling public,” TSA Administrator John Pistole said in a written statement.
“We have taken appropriate action through our newly established Office of Professional Responsibility and are committed to ensuring our high security standards are upheld in Hawaii and throughout the country,” he continued.
These are the signs of a government department that has lost sight of the objective of securing us from a terrorist attack and is now foundering in its own ocean of bureaucracy.
What are your thoughts? Should we start paying twice as much for TSA security fees, or look at trimming what seems to have become a bureaucratic cow?
Photo: Empty TSA ©Leocha
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
