It’s sad that as time moves father away from 9/11 people forget. People forget how upset they were about the screeners and security at airports. I mean it was a HUGE deal a few years ago. Such a big deal that when the new TSA wanted a union both sides of the aisle recognized that it would be a huge mistake, and denied them that right.
Not anymore, according to the Democrats:
The Democratic-led U.S. Senate rejected a Republican proposal to prohibit airport security screeners from joining unions, setting up a clash with the Bush administration.
The Senate voted 51-46 to defeat an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, that would strip collective bargaining for airport screeners from legislation to carry out recommendations of the commission that investigated the 2001 terrorist attacks.
President George W. Bush may veto the legislation if Democrats insist on giving labor rights to federal airport security personnel, administration officials have said.
“This would mean that we would lose the 9/11 bill that we have all worked on,” DeMint said in arguing for his amendment.
The legislation would give Transportation Security Administration airport security screeners whistle-blower protections and the right to bargain collectively for union contracts. They wouldn’t be allowed to negotiate wages or conduct strikes, and the TSA management would be able to waive work rules in emergencies.
Senator Hatch said he can see the posters that will be forthcoming:
‘Defend America, but only during the hours and under the conditions that my union negotiated,’”
And that about describes this travesty. Thankfully there are still a few on the right side of the aisle who can still remember that dark day 5+ years ago.
To support him in his veto threat, 36 Senate Republicans and 146 House Republicans have signed letters to President Bush that promise to uphold his presidential veto if the language is not amended.
And if a veto doesn’t come, or isn’t successful, we can look forward to the day when the first TSA "slowdown" or strike comes our way. We can look forward to people working those lines, checking for wires coming from different orifices, who are inept, incompetent fools. But because of the union they can’t be fired. The Wall Street Journal has a few more examples coming our way:
Screeners need to adapt to changing threats, often with random and unpredictable methods. Union rules would require negotiating over these methods with labor chiefs at each work site, meaning at every airport. By TSA’s estimate, union rules would also require pulling some 8% of the work force offline to meet new management demands. This would require either closing screening lanes or adding thousands of new screeners at more cost to taxpayers.
It’s sad I’m telling you. Just sad.
See author page
