Senate Fights Over Wrong TSA Issue

When the Transportation Security Administration was formed, it was made a matter of law that TSA screeners could not be represented by unions. TSA executives are not qualified or authorized to conduct airport security and a strike by uniformed personnel would paralyze the airways.

From ABC News:

WASHINGTON Mar 2, 2007 (AP)— Senators left town Friday with little to show for a week of debate on a massive anti-terrorism bill and squabbling over whether to let federal airport screeners join unions and risk a veto of a Homeland Security bill by President Bush.

Acutally, screeners are allowed to join unions. But, it's an empty gesture as the unions are not allowed to participate in collective-bargaining.

The answer to TSA employee issues is not unionizing, it's holding the TSA Executive Service to account. Too many TSA suits are incompetent, and too many Federal Security Directors have placed loyal but stupid cronies in positions of authority, resulting in astronomical turnover rates and the highest injury rate in federal service.

TSA is unique in having been recently created from the ground up. Most such organizations are headed by people who have worked their way up from the ranks. In the TSA, virtually all of the executives are career bureaucrats recruited from other departments. They should have been placed in their positions with the understanding that they were temporary, and that uniformed TSA personnel would replace them as they were promoted.

Replacing these drones with people who actually know the score would obviate the need for union representation.