Senate votes to allow airport workers to unionize

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The Senate turned back an effort Tuesday to remove from the anti-terrorism bill provisions that would grant collective bargaining rights to 43,000 airport luggage and passenger screeners.

The 51-46 vote, largely along party lines, virtually guarantees that the bill to implement recommendations by the 9/11 Commission ultimately will be vetoed by President Bush.

Bush and Republicans in Congress say that giving the Transportation Security Officers collective bargaining rights will bog down anti-terrorism efforts at airports nationwide.

John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said it is a basic work right.

“It is only through collective bargaining that management comes under a legal obligation to listen to employee concerns and work through issues collaboratively,” he told a Senate committee Monday.

The agency, according to Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, has experienced a high rate of turnover and low morale.

“Without collective bargaining, employees have no voice in their working conditions,” he said.

Screeners want to negotiate, according to Gage, “the scheduling of overtime, shift rotation; the availability of flextime arrangements or compressed work schedules; the agency’s provision of appropriate health and safety equipment; options concerning the inevitable deployments away from regular work stations; parking; child care and public transportation subsidies.”

That’s exactly what worries Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who said that the success of the Transportation Security Administration depends upon its agility in implementing new procedures at a moment’s notice.

He and other Republicans point to last year’s banning of liquids and gels on airplanes, which took less than two hours to execute after top officials decided on the new regulations.

“It was the most significant change in airport security since 9/11,” said George Voinovich, R-Ohio. “And it all happened in less than six hours from the time of the arrests of the alleged terrorists in the UK.”

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the screeners deserve fair treatment, good wages and an appeals process.

“But is that right greater than the right of the American people to have secure and safe air travel?” he asked. “I put forth to this body that it’s not.”

Bush has vowed to veto the bill if it contains collective bargaining rights.

And Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who is the ranking member of the House transportation committee, wrote Senate leaders yesterday, saying he had “secured a commitment from more than 146” members of the House to uphold a veto from Bush.

churt@dcexaminer.com

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