Posted on 08/06/2012 2:18:49 PM PDT by Crazieman
From The Right Scoop, initially blogged by PJ Media:
As of Thursday, August 2, 2012, the Transportation Security Administration has agreed to unionize. The agency, best known for groping and offending Americans as we attempt to fly from one part of the country to the other, has agreed to allow the American Federation of Government Employees to unionize its workers.
From the Facebook page of the American Federation of Government Employees, the official announcement:
“For 10 long years AFGE has fought hard so that Transportation Security Officers would have collective bargaining rights. We have often looked back and wondered why it was taking so long,” said AFGE National President John Gage. “Today we begin to look forward.”“This collective bargaining agreement will better the working lives of 45,000 hard-working, dedicated employees, and that’s a fantastic feeling,” AFGE TSA Council 100 President Kim Kraynak-Lambert said. “TSOs come to work every day in the face of intense public and congressional scrutiny and, to the best of their ability, protect this nation from terrorist attacks. Now we can look forward to new rights and new working conditions, and a chance to form a true labor-management partnership. And, contrary to some of the misinformation circulating about TSA, an agreement will not adversely affect security – security related matters were strictly excluded from negotiations. In fact, this agreement will strengthen our ability to carry out TSA’s vital mission of protecting the American people.”
“What this contract will do is provide for increased uniformity on fair treatment and the other issues important to employees across the nation’s airports,” Gage added. “Both parties believe the agreement will also provide much needed schedule flexibility. Improvements in working conditions will also benefit both TSA and the officers by fostering a family-friendly workplace where the employees have greater job satisfaction and feel supported in performing their important security work.”
Of course, the TSA workforce will have to vote on whether or not to ratify the collective bargaining agreement. According to the aforementioned Facebook announcement, that process will be taking place in the coming months. In the meantime, so many jokes can be made about this. Off the top of my head…
1. Fostering a family-friendly workplace. Does that mean no mothers, grandmothers, and children will be groped?
2. Does the TSA’s “important security work” include protection from sexual harassment by federal employees?
3. I’m curious about these “new rights” that TSA employees will get. Will those new rights be given in exchange for giving law-abiding Americans our rights back?
4. “New working conditions,” huh? Given that at least one estimate has said the TSA at one point had failed screening tests 70% of the time, perhaps those new working conditions could include actually finding at least one person who is a potential terrorist threat?
5. From my buddy Nick R. Brown, who is far more clever than I am: “If they strike, do we get to opt out of gropings?”
In all seriousness, the TSA needs significant reform, but this isn’t it. We really don’t need further complications or expense within an agency that continually and unnecessarily violates too many constitutional rights to keep track of. I personally support eliminating its existence entirely, though I admit to not having a cohesive replacement strategy in mind. Last year Ed suggested the TSA continue to look at how Israel conduct its airport security, though a former co-worker with expertise in the airline industry told me that what Israel does would not work for America. Any suggestions in the comments as to how to phase out the TSA and replace it with something better? Or should the TSA stay, and merely be significantly modified?
[Update] A number of comments are talking about the unionization, and asking how it came to be, since the Bush Administration hadn’t allowed unionization. I called James Sherk of The Heritage Foundation to ask him about this, and he explained that the decision to collectively bargain or not has been left up to the Administrator of the TSA. James pointed out that while workers have a right to join a union because of free association, the question always remains as to whether the employer will bargain with that union. Obviously, under Bush, no Administrator was going to do so. Once President Obama got his pick for Administrator through the Senate, however, he instituted collective bargaining in the agency.
This is the nightmare I have been warning about, since the first day TSA was proposed..
What the radical left has lacked in America is a way to SHUT DOWN THE ECONOMY to protest anything and everything.
Give the Unions control of TSA, and they finally, after 100 years, have a way of creating economic chaos in Americam at any time they choose to.
And if you don’t believe that, you are probably naive to still think that government would NEVER allow TSA to Unionize, or that America would never elected a Socialist ex-drug dealer as President.
Actually, there wasn’t too much the TSA could do to become worse. Some people are so gifted when it comes to living down to our expectations.
The TSA is just one of a number of reasons why the old canard, “But the nation won’t survive four more years...”, doesn’t hold water with me any longer.
Both parties screw us. Our own bozo handed off a nation almost toes up.
It’s time for a change, not not shuffling..., a real meaningful change of direction back from the brink.
And no, striking down one massive government program only to replace it with your own, IS NOT what I’m talking about.
And kissing the ass of foreign nationals while flipping off your own citizens isn’t either.
It’s time to slice and dice, and it’s time to start saying no to people who demand while not producing.
The producers should be making all the demands.
Where’s our Reagan when you need someone to stand up to a union? I’ll bet he had a resolution to the problem of them striking.
This may be step one to unintended consequences.
We may have a TEA Party President someday, and striking TSA workers............
I hope I live to see the day!
Same here.
Here’s an instance where Congress could step in and set it up so the TSA cannot strike on national security grounds.
Thank that will happen? No holding MY breath...
This is old news.
Umm you should care a lot. TSA is setting up screenings at train and bus stations also across the country. They are going to eventually be in everyone's face and grabbing your balls literally everywhere you go.
It's time for the soil of liberty (or tree of liberty -- can't remember which one), needs to be watered once again with the blood of patriots & that of tyrants & their minions. And to throw off the old govt and form a new govt as specified in the Declaration of Independence.
Great, so now they will need even more useless employees to stand around to watch as lines form and people get Xrayed and groped. To add insult to the taxpayers injury these morons will get more moey and benefits and still won’t get fired for failing to stop any threats.
>> The democrats finally found a way to politically profit from terrorism.
Well, according to the docudrama, “Path to 9-11”, they didn’t allow the bombing of UBL’s training camps.
I don’t want you to think that I am advocating some sort of violence. That’s not going to work and I would never advocate that unless and until we were attacked and had no choice. Violence is the VERY LAST option.
We just need to march on Washington five to ten million strong, and refuse to leave until we get some action on our grievances.
Face it, our military would mow us down in ten minutes. We don’t have a prayer’s chance to win a military action. All we would do is commit suicide and prove the government right, that the Tea Party was a bunch of militarized haters and kooks.
The government would have drones that could operate from five miles away, and hit you before you could even see it. That’s not a plan.
I just think it’s time to call the Republicans out, and ask them if they ever plan on defending what is right? If not, then lets please leave the party and start a new one, or better yet take the party over politically.
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What, no Beerhall -- putzes?
http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0385511841
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[We just need to march on Washington five to ten million strong, and refuse to leave until we get some action on our grievances.]
Who would buy the groceries and empty the portapoties?
Got logistics?
What we need to do — is calmly stay the course and fill the Capital with enough Tea to be able to impeach whatever RAT, RINO, or whatever other tax-o-nomic varmint happens to infest the White Hut.
Impeach, Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
{ Got that, Myth? }
You are correct.
The tsa has not stopped or prevented any terror attacks.
They are a day late and dollar short.
Whole premise for the tsa is to harrass the flying public and to become unionized. Now they have both.
Bet they go on strike soon just because they can.
Of course not. I said “should,” not “will.”
You couple the march on Washington with a general strike.
I know that sounds like a harmful thing to do, but you give that a week or so, and the politicians in D. C. would melt like butter at a picnic on a hot summer day.
We give these guys too much of a free ride.
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