I am not going to sit here and claim to have any inside information or intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the AFGE-TSA. In fact, it has been pretty difficult to find out much that is relevant to the “New Normal” (I can’t use that term anymore. It already feels outdated and I’m sure as shit not going anywhere near renaming anything as lame as ‘whatever2.0’ out of principle. I’m gonna go with ‘Nermal’ for now. Anyways…) times we are beginning, beyond what is stated on the union website and a few recent articles about an amendment that (unbelievably) barely passed the consideration stage in the House in March by a vote 220–192. Parts of this amendment include forbidding the hiring of convicted felons and sexual offenders as TSA workers, the right to collective bargaining, and issues involving small merit pay boosts for things such as length of service. Nothing in there really addresses the obvious need for technically proficient employees, including providing quality wages that would create competition for employment.
It’s pretty amazing that it was such a close vote or that it even passed at all. This administration has clearly spoken with their wallets, cutting big fat checks to the Airlines and America’s stock sweetheart that is having a pretty rough 18 month stretch in Boeing (To The MAX!!!...oops). Yet, common sense safety legislation for workers protections in an industry that has been deemed so essential is nearly impossible to garner. Instead, awarding bailouts to restock the coffers of Airlines that spent all their reserves on buybacks and creating massive profits for shareholders, regardless of incompetent mismanagement of their own funds, is the Soup Du Jour.
For a country that was so hell bent on “uniting” (umm…yeah) after 2001, not a whole lot was done to ensure competence. Face to face interactions are the most critical area of preventing terroristic activity in regards to flying*. Despite the “By hell or high water, we are going to make the skies safe, fellas!” propaganda (although the whole “If you see something, say something” motto is irrationally comforting other than this is something that is so obvious it shouldn’t need a fucking campaign.) not much has been enacted to ensure it becomes a reality that the TSA is effective or competent. Last year, the TSA ranked 398 out of 420 in the Partnership for Public Service “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” report that factors in things such as job satisfaction due to high turnover and the notoriously shitty pay. Working at the TSA screening line is akin to working the counter at McDonald’s albeit instead of slopping grease onto trays for every type of person imaginable, you get to feel them up. Think about that job descriptor: Every single person you deal with you get to do the ol’ twice over. It must sound like such a cool job (other than the minimum wage thing) for someone who has never stepped foot into an airport.
The point here is this. The governments of the world have overtly stated time and again in Nermal times that they will go to great lengths to keep Airlines running. If the TSA in the States want to really shake things up, now is the time. What a dream scenario in terms of leverage! Money is certainly not a cure-all for the agency in terms of it’s effectiveness or quality of the people it employs. Having ANY competition for the job would be a nice start and money is a great first step.
If the AFGE-TSA are wise, they need to act while demand for service is low, distractions are high and the money is flowing. It would actually be a rare instance of government utilizing capital that would benefit the safety of everyone and not just wealthy business owners and their shareholders. It’s a start, anyways.
*(Sure, you can easily pilot any size vessel full of explosives into a support stantion of say, the Moveable bridge at CP5 on the shared tracks of the MTA and Amtrak in NYC, or the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Ontario, Canada ((please DO NOT do this!)) and deliver a pretty devastating blow to the US economy and probably kill a lot of people if it’s timed right. There really hasn’t been much done to really tidy up those access points, though. I digress. That topic is for another time.)