Getting a full body scan may soon be a union job

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Transportation Security Administration employees win right to form union, bargain collectively

Federal labor relations works differently than private sector labor relations

Way back before I started working in Human Resources, I worked for the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier from 1979 to 1986.  I learned one helluva lot about bad labor relations during this stint with USPS.   I worked there during the years when the term “going postal” became institutionalized in our society as a metaphor for workplace violence.  I was a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, and served as an elected official for a couple of years for a local based out of Royal Oak, Michigan.

I served as a union official because there was a notable abundance of bad management at work in the organization at that time.   Being a part of the union leadership offered me a more direct route to making changes to that system than I could make as an employee, even though I freely shared my opinions in that capacity as well.  It wasn’t that the union had so much leverage or power.  They didn’t have that much at the local level, but it was the best forum available in that system.  It was tough to get much of anything done, but we did make a little headway.

I gave it up after one term because I was heading back to school to get my Masters degree in labor relations at Michigan State University, and switch over to the private sector management side.

I have ambivalent feelings about hearing the announcement that TSA employees have been granted the limited right to collective bargaining, which is pretty much what we had at the Postal Service.   Agency head John Pistole issued a letter and a Decision Memorandum outlining the rights of 40,000 employees at the TSA to pick a union to represent them  and to engage in a limited form of collective bargaining.

According to Pistole, this determination “sets forth a fair labor relations system unique to TSA that will protect TSA’s capability and flexibility to respond to evolving threats, maximize the utilization of TSA resources, and improve performance, employee engagement and professional development.”

My immediate reaction is pretty much “whatever”, not that that anyone involved in this prolonged process cares what I think.

Several groups have heavily vested interests in this decision, and how it plays out.

The TSA employees will get to decide if they want a union or not, and which union it will be.

Two unions, The American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union have been vying for the right to represent these employees.   The winner of that fight is the biggest winner here, since they will be collecting a lot of dues money from the 40,000 potential new members.

President Obama gets some street cred back with labor unions, which will help him in 2012.  Republican aren’t so happy, especially Jim Demint.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has also expressed security concerns regarding the possibility of collective-bargaining rights at the TSA. Asked for comment on the upcoming TSA vote, DeMint’s office referred FoxNews.com to prior statements in which DeMint described the unionization of TSA as a “homeland security disaster.”

Under the TSA process, collective bargaining will cover specific employment issues but not security policies and procedures.   This means that the  scope of collective bargaining with a union, if elected, will cover specific employment issues listed in the Determination, including things like:

• The performance management process
• Awards and recognition process
• Attendance management guidelines process
• Shift bids

The TSA Determination prohibits bargaining on any topics that might affect security, including things such as:

• Security policies, procedures or the deployment of security personnel or equipment
• Pay, pensions and any form of compensation
• Proficiency testing
• Job qualifications
• Discipline standards

Like I said at the beginning, kind of ambivalent.  Oh well, just like the song says, you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.  What do you think?

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Tagged as: American Federation of Government Employees, Collective bargaining, Jim DeMint, John Pistole, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Treasury Employees Union, Transportation Security Administration, United States Postal Service