TSA Ordered to Expand Workforce Protections and Rights

The Biden administration recently announced that it would extend Title 5 federal employee protections to workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This includes granting them collective bargaining rights, access to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and aligning their wages with the General Schedule.

In a June 3, 2021 memorandum for TSA Administrator David Pekokse, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas directed that TSA policies need to be revised to match the rest of the federal workforce. For example, Secretary Mayorkas directed that Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) should be compensated “at a level that is no less than that of their counterparts on the General Schedule pay scale”.

Secretary Mayorkas also directed that TSOs should have the opportunity to appeal disciplinary actions in front of the MSPB and should have collective bargaining rights “to the same extent as permitted” by most other federal workers.

Furthermore, in a statement, Secretary Mayorkas said of TSA employees, “They deserve the empowerment of collective bargaining and a compensation structure that recognizes and rewards them for their contributions to our safety and security.”

Pekokse has 60 days to make new determinations regarding the collective bargaining rights of TSA employees and create an implementation plan with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Within 90 days, Pekokse will be required to develop a report with changes that should be made to TSA policies to allow for MSPB appeal rights and a plan to increase employee compensation.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley applauded this effort by the administration, saying, “AFGE members have been fighting for nearly two decades to put an end to the system of separate and unequal treatment that the government has imposed on transportation security officers. This is a win for equity and a defeat for the inexcusable history of disparate treatment of TSOs.”