Trump Administration Declares Tsa Screener Union Contract Void

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday announced that it plans to terminate the collective bargaining agreement that covers frontline workers at the Transportation Security Administration — a move likely to spark a court battle.

In a statement, DHS said its decision to invalidate a 2024 collective bargaining agreement that covers about 45,000 people — including its baggage screeners — “removes bureaucratic hurdles that will strengthen workforce agility, enhance productivity and resiliency, while also jumpstarting innovation.” The agency claimed that TSA employees are exploiting the current system by abusing sick leave policies, in turn overburdening other screeners who have to pick up extra shifts, among other tasks.

DHS said these employees will adhere to a new system based on “performance, not longevity or union membership.”

Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the agency will immediately cease using its payroll system for collecting union dues. In addition, McLaughlin said DHS will “conduct an orderly termination of any functions, processes, or obligations arising out of” the agreement.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing baggage screeners at TSA, said the action flagrantly disregards workers’ rights and in a statement called it “clearly retaliatory” for the union’s lawsuits against the Trump administration over its crackdown on federal employees.

“They gave as a justification a completely fabricated claim about union officials — making clear this action has nothing to do with efficiency, safety, or homeland security,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “This is merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union.”

An AFGE spokesperson said the union is “weighing our options and evaluating our legal strategy” as it processes DHS’ action.

In an email sent to TSA staffers on Friday, obtained by POLITICO, TSA chief of staff Adam Stahl warned that AFGE is “no longer the exclusive representative of any personnel carrying out screening functions.” The email noted the halt in processing union dues, which Stahl said totals close to $15 million annually.

In 2022, TSA rolled out a new compensation and bargaining system for its employees, an act that put them level with other federal employees in terms of raises and other benefits.

Former TSA Administrator David Pekoske, who has said he was forced to resign by the Trump administration, oversaw the new systems established in concert with AFGE. Last year, the agency and union reached new terms allowing flexibility for TSA screeners who need to take unscheduled leave, including bereavement, sick or parental leave.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who authored a bill that would codify collective bargaining rights for TSA employees, S. 4334, blasted the Trump administration for its decision on Friday.

“Anyone who’s been to an airport knows that TSA officers play a critical role in keeping millions of people safe every single day,” Schatz said. The latest move will ultimately “mean fewer officers, longer airport screening lines, and a greater threat to public safety and national security,” he added.

The move to oust security officers’ union representation is the latest step by the Trump administration to exert control over the federal workforce. The Office of Personnel Management in early February asserted that collective bargaining agreement provisions on telework and remote work arrangements were invalid and that agencies did not have to abide by them as part of the White House’s return-to-office mandate.

Trump also signed an executive order aimed at preventing contracts from being completed toward the end of a presidential administration, such as an Education Department agreement that took effect Jan. 17.

The president has also fired Democratic appointees on two regulatory agencies that oversee federal labor disputes — the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Federal Labor Relations Authority — limiting the options for workers or labor unions to challenge Trump’s actions. The ousted officials have sued over their terminations, as Trump ignored statutory protections shielding them from removal, and one of them has temporarily been reinstated by a district court judge while the other has a hearing on the matter Friday in D.C.

FLRA is the agency tasked with adjudicating union disputes involving agencies, though Trump’s firing left the panel with one Democrat and one Republican member — raising the prospect of partisan deadlocks that leave cases in limbo.