{"id":885247,"date":"2026-01-15T08:26:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/homeland-security-renews-push-to-end-tsa-collective-bargaining-agreement\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T08:26:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:26:25","slug":"homeland-security-renews-push-to-end-tsa-collective-bargaining-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/homeland-security-renews-push-to-end-tsa-collective-bargaining-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeland Security renews push to end TSA collective bargaining agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<p>\n                <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1765589172000\" data-recent-thresholdinhours=\"1\"><br \/>\n                    <template data-date-tpl>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]<\/template><br \/>\n                    <span data-date>\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n                <\/bsp-timestamp>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    <bsp-page-actions><\/p>\n<p>    <\/bsp-page-actions><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Transportation Security Administration is renewing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s push to end a collective bargaining agreement with airport screening officers \u2014 the <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tsa-homeland-security-union-injunction-9c85707f3c5eae5748bd539b836d2ea3\">second such attempt this year<\/a><\/span>, coming just a month after the longest government shutdown on record.<\/p>\n<p>The agency said Friday the move relies on a September memo from Noem \u2014 issued months after a federal judge blocked her earlier directive \u2014 that says TSA screeners \u201chave a primary function of national security\u201d and therefore should not engage in <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/collective-bargaining-agreement-tsa-homeland-security-e3eb1d5e0ae8e1b4a6fdb87cd7f6bd39\">collective bargaining<\/a><\/span> or be represented by a union.<\/p>\n<p>The <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/afge-federal-union-downsizing-layoffs-fabc76df4df8be0ac66945082684b6c1\">American Federation of Government Employees<\/a><\/span> swiftly vowed to fight the decision, calling it illegal and a violation of the preliminary injunction issued in June that halted Noem\u2019s first attempt to terminate the contract covering 47,000 workers.<\/p>\n<p>In the September memo cited by TSA, Noem acknowledged the injunction but did not explain why she concluded it did not prohibit her from pursuing the same outcome through a new directive while the case remains pending. The injunction barred TSA from rescinding the union contract or enforcing Noem\u2019s orders to dismiss pending grievances, but it did not state whether its restrictions would extend to future directives by Noem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt definitely seems like they\u2019re using all loopholes to try to eliminate collective bargaining rights for the transportation security officers,\u201d Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the bargaining unit for TSA workers, said Friday in a phone interview.<\/p>\n<p>TSA declined Friday to comment on the union\u2019s assertions. An emailed request for comment was sent to <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/us-department-of-homeland-security\">Homeland Security<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The agency said it plans to rescind the current seven-year contract in January and replace it with a new \u201csecurity-focused framework.\u201d The agreement, reached last May, was supposed to expire in 2031.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Stahl, acting TSA deputy administrator, said in a statement that airport screeners \u201cneed to be focused on their mission of keeping travelers safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the leadership of Secretary Noem, we are ridding the agency of wasteful and time-consuming activities that distracted our officers from their crucial work,\u201d Stahl said.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement also comes weeks after Noem held a news conference in which she handed out $10,000 bonus checks to TSA officers who she said went \u201cabove and beyond\u201d during the 43-day shutdown, when thousands of airport screeners continued reporting for duty despite missing more than six weeks of pay during the lapse in funding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is how they\u2019re going to be repaid for coming to work every single day during the government shutdown?\u201d Jones said, calling the agency\u2019s decision \u201ca slap in the face to the people they\u2019re handing checks to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noem issued her first memo in February rescinding the collective bargaining agreement. But the union sued, claiming the move was retaliation for <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-federal-employees-firings-a85d1aaf1088e050d39dcf7e3664bb9f\">AFGE\u2019s resistance<\/a><\/span> to the Trump administration\u2019s actions affecting federal workers, such as firing probationary employees. A trial is currently scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n<p>In granting the preliminary injunction in June, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman of Seattle said the order was necessary to preserve the rights and benefits TSA workers have long held under union representation.<\/p>\n<p>Pechman wrote that AFGE had shown in its lawsuit that Noem\u2019s directive \u201cconstitutes impermissible retaliation,\u201d likely violated the union\u2019s due process, and was \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d \u2014 findings that the judge said make it likely AFGE will ultimately prevail.<\/p>\n<p>AFGE represents about 800,000 federal government employees and has been pushing back as the Trump administration has laid the groundwork to weaken or eliminate protections for federal workers in an effort to shrink the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/homeland-security-tsa-union-b754702c295fdec5900bc04baaff3fa4\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] \u00a0 The Transportation Security Administration is renewing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s push to end a collective bargaining agreement with airport screening officers \u2014 the second such attempt this year , coming just a month after the longest government shutdown on record. The agency said Friday the move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":885248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[5091,5092],"class_list":{"0":"post-885247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-homeland","8":"category-security","9":"tag-homeland","10":"tag-security"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}