Standing Fast

The over 40,000 Transport Security Agency (TSA) airport screeners-those on the front line of airline security-will get a little more respect when they go to work today. In a nearly 51-46 partisan split vote yesterday, the Senate restored collective bargaining rights to the screeners which were stripped by the Bush administration in 2002.

Common sense dictates that workers who are better paid, have better benefits and have some voice and representation on the job care more about their occupation and their professionalism; something those concerned about national security want at their airport. But conservative common sense seems to think treating those on the front lines with respect and giving them a voice contradicts the goal of keeping the US safe.

According to South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint (R):

"Collective bargaining will not work for our airports," DeMint said. He said strengthening airport screeners' rights would hinder the government's flexibility to move them around in response to terrorist threats."

But in a reply by American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage:

"The notion that granting bargaining rights to [transportation security
officers] would result in a less flexible workforce is just plain nonsense, and
it is also an insult to the thousands of dedicated federal workers within
Homeland Security, including the Border Patrol, FEMA, Federal Protective Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers. One only need look at 9/11. Unionized workers from both the public and private sector were first on the scene and worked tirelessly to restore what had been. Having union rights did not hamper response time or the
ability to do their jobs, but instead it helped prepare them to be ready in case
of emergency."

Despite being recommended by the 9/11 commission, the White House has threatened to veto the bill if the labor provision is left in. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is attempting to work out a compromise that would avoid a Presidential veto by giving airport screeners whistle-blower protection but not collective bargaining rights while Sen. Claire McCaskill's, D-Mo compromise amendment would give screeners the right to bargain collectively but not for pay.

The move by the Bush administration to use the 9/11 crisis as an excuse to go on union busting drives among those on the front line of homeland security goes beyond airport screeners. In the past Bush has also threatened the rights of 850,000 Defense Department workers and more than 170,000 Homeland Security Department employees.

During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt not only allowed the United Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers to organize in defense plants; he made the union shop mandatory. He and his White House knew that an underpaid and abused workforce was a dangerous thing in time of war and that it would only cause national disunity at a time when bringing Americans together was a top priority. But as seen by the scandal at Walter Reed hospital, the White House does not hold the working men and women actually fighting in Bush's war and defending our country's borders with the same respect that previous administrations did; nor does it seem to hold the idea of bringing Americans together with the same value as Roosevelt and Truman did.