Trump administration sued for ending union bargaining for TSA officers

The largest federal employee union filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block President Donald Trump’s administration from ending collective bargaining for nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers that staff checkpoints at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit in Seattle, Washington, federal court, claiming the U.S. Department of Homeland Security canceled a bargaining agreement covering TSA officers as retaliation against the union for challenging other Trump administration initiatives. The lawsuit seeks to block TSA from canceling a seven-year collective bargaining deal, which was enacted last year, and bar DHS from rescinding it again. “This retaliatory action is in accord with a broader Trump administration policy of terminating contracts in retaliation for protected speech,” the AFGE said. The union pointed to Trump’s executive order barring law firm Perkins Coie, which represented the 2016 presidential campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton, from doing business with federal contractors and denying its lawyers access to government officials and buildings. A judge blocked that order on Wednesday. The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two unions representing flight attendants and other airline workers joined AFGE in the lawsuit. Because of the sensitive nature of their jobs, TSA officers are not governed by the civil service system and do not have the same rights to unionize and collectively bargain over working conditions as most other federal employees. During former President Barack Obama’s administration, the TSA granted officers the ability to bargain over certain subjects, and former President Joe Biden’s administration expanded the scope of bargaining in 2021.<br/>