"Union Seeks to Represent Airport Screeners"

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Union Seeks to Represent Airport Screeners
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- A union seeking to organize the government's airport screeners
appealed a court ruling denying them collective bargaining rights.

The American Federation of Government Employees challenged a Sept. 5 ruling
by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that said a federal
administrator should decide whether the screeners have the right to
collectively bargain.

The Transportation Security Administration, which employs 49,600 full-time
airport security screeners, banned collective bargaining by any screeners.
TSA head James Loy said he was concerned a labor contract could hinder
efforts to quickly make staffing changes in response to a terrorism threat.

About 6,500 screeners have signed cards expressing interest in having the
union represent them, and about 1,000 of them affiliated with the union,
with dues deducted from their pay checks. But the union cannot negotiate for
working conditions or salaries.

The union took its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on
Wednesday, contending the government was violating the First Amendment as
well as the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which created the
Transportation Security Administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror
attacks.

Separately, the union is filing a complaint with the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia charging TSA violated the Constitution when it
fired Jim Ferace, a screener at Pittsburgh International Airport, for his
union activities. Ferace was the union's named plaintiff in its original
suit.

On the Net:

http://www.tsa.gov

http://www.afge.org

www.screenersunion.org

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