EXCLUSIVE — Former President Barack Obama’s administration may have skirted the law when it moved to approve the unionization of Transportation Security Administration screeners in 2011, according to Freedom of Information Act documents shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner by Americans for Fair Treatment.
AFFT, an organization that assists public-sector workers dissatisfied with their union representation, recently settled a lawsuit with the TSA forcing the agency to comply with a FOIA request it filed in 2023. The group sought to uncover the legal rationale for allowing TSA screeners to unionize under the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal labor union. The group’s inquiry was spurred by skepticism over the fact that TSA officers are not included under Title 5 of the U.S. Code, which grants the federal employees covered under the law the right to collective bargaining. The documents obtained by the Washington Examiner do not show the TSA engaging in any legal analysis to justify unionization despite the agency’s security officers lacking collective bargaining rights under the law.
According to AFFT’s president and legal counsel, the TSA’s existing unionization scheme is brazenly illegal.
“During the Obama administration, the TSA administrator did an abrupt about-face, and TSA moved ahead with allowing screeners to unionize in violation of the law,” Dave Dorey, an attorney specializing in labor and employment law who represented AFFT, told the Washington Examiner. “Multiple administrators of TSA have stated publicly that TSA screeners are not covered by Title V, which includes significant rights for unionized workers — including the ability to file claims of unfair labor practices with an independent board and ultimately vindicate their rights in federal court. TSA screeners have none of these protections.”
Instead of seeking a legal analysis to justify why workers who play a crucial role in national security should be allowed to engage in collective bargaining, Obama TSA Administrator John Pistole commissioned a third-party firm to survey “non-TSA leaders of unionized security forces” to determine if unionization was appropriate for his agency in 2010, according to one of the documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Pistole posed questions to other security heads about how unionization would affect the TSA performance and found that the unionized security agency heads largely supported unionization. The TSA also had no records of a legal analysis when it modified its collective bargaining policy in 2014, according to a FOIA response obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“Title 5 of the United States Code contains an authorization for most federal employees to collectively bargain (unionize),” Dorey said. “Some parts of TSA are included in Title 5, but TSA screeners are not. Therefore there is no authorization for TSA screeners to unionize. Even if TSA screeners were included within Title V, they would not be authorized to collectively bargain because they perform ‘security work which directly affects national security.’”
TSA screeners do not have full unionization rights under Title 5 of the U.S. Code, such as the ability to file unfair labor practices claims, yet they are unionized under the AFGE. AFFT argues that the screeners are stuck paying dues to a union that does not have their best interests at heart — all because of the Obama administration’s suspect unionization approval.
Indeed, multiple TSA employees approached AFFT with concerns about the AFGE failing to advocate their interests. TSA employees alleged that union leadership collaborated with management to target specific people with hostile performance reviews and purportedly unfounded disciplinary actions. Additionally, some TSA screeners told AFFT that screeners’ objections to being required to wear face shields and other personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic were ignored and that some harbor concerns about exercising their First Amendment rights out of fear of retaliation from union bosses.
As the largest federal employee union, the AFGE is no stranger to controversy. For instance, despite representing just 2% of unionized workers, the AFGE accounts for over 10% of all union corruption convictions. Specific scandals have included using Department of Veterans Affairs employees for full-time union work as veterans died waiting for care, embezzlement of union funds, wire fraud, and alleged corruption cover-ups. The AFGE, however, claims to have won wage increases, expanded workplace rights, and other boons for TSA officers.
“AFGE has a troubling record of corruption, and TSA employees deserve better,” AFFT CEO and former Georgia Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers told the Washington Examiner. “Instead of being protected by a union that works in their best interests, TSA screeners have been left vulnerable to a corrupt organization without legal legitimacy.”
The AFGE has emerged as an opponent of the Trump administration, suing to hamstring the Department of Government Efficiency and block efforts to fire career government workers.
“By unlawfully unionizing TSA screeners, the TSA has denied these employees the fundamental rights and protections they deserve,” Rogers went on. “TSA employees should be able to hold their union accountable through proper legal channels, but instead, they’ve been left vulnerable to potential abuses without adequate means of recourse.”
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In light of the new information, AFFT is urging the Trump administration to review the legality of TSA screeners’ unionization and take corrective action if necessary.
The White House and the AFGE did not respond to requests for comment. The TSA, meanwhile, referred the Washington Examiner to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not return a request for comment.
