Judge blocks Trump administration’s attempt to strip TSA workers of union rights
Judge found the Trump administration’s reasoning ‘threadbare’ and suggested the move was meant to ‘punish’ the union
A federal judge on Monday said the administration of US President Donald Trump likely broke the law by stripping 50,000 transportation security officers of the ability to unionise and bargain over their working conditions.
US District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle, Washington, blocked the US Department of Homeland Security from cancelling a union contract covering TSA officers pending the outcome of a lawsuit by the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions.
Pechman said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem failed to explain why she was reversing the Obama administration’s finding that unionising would benefit TSA officers, who staff checkpoints at US airports and other transportation hubs, and in turn the public they serve.
“The Noem Determination appears to have been undertaken to punish AFGE and its members because AFGE has chosen to push back against the Trump Administration’s attacks to federal employment in the courts,” wrote Pechman, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
The White House, TSA and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
AFGE, which represents about 800,000 federal government employees, praised the decision. National President Everett Kelley said “the preliminary injunction underscores the unconstitutional nature of DHS’s attack on TSA officers’ First Amendment rights … we will not back down from defending our members’ rights against unlawful union busting”.