Public sector unionization: understanding the rise in membership rates and impact to homeland security
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Authors
Grannan, Donna J.
Subjects
Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
Aviation
Screening
Public Sector Union
American Federation of Government Employees;
Transportation Security Administration
Aviation
Screening
Public Sector Union
American Federation of Government Employees;
Advisors
Clovis, Samuel H.
Date of Issue
2011-12
Date
December 2011
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Public sector union membership rolls will swell by over 40,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSO) as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) embarks on transitioning to a unionized screener workforce. Proponents argue that screening operations will be in jeopardy as poor performing screeners will be difficult to remove for cause, attention will be focused on union issues rather than security measures, and the threat of work slowdown or unofficial strikes if union demands are not met could have nationwide economic repercussions. The TSA organizing as a unionized workforce has parallel similarities to another unionized aviation industry federal agency--the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). Disgruntled with years of attempted bargaining between PATCO and the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), PATCO staged an unofficial work strike in August 1981 that temporarily halted air traffic in the United States. As airlines were forced to cancel flights, this strike brought national attention to the impacts that federalized workers can have on national security and the economy. Federal agencies with national and homeland security responsibilities must remain operationally agile. The economic devastation resulting from a TSA work strike could potentially cripple the complex transportation network of aviation, rail, pipeline, highway, cargo, maritime and mass transit.
Type
Description
CHDS State/Local
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xvi, 69 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
Copyright is reserved by the copyright owner.