WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), issued this statement condemning Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the collective bargaining agreement between AFGE and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), effective January 11, 2026:
“This illegal union-busting move to strip bargaining rights from 47,000 TSA officers will create additional risk in our aviation security system. As America’s largest transportation labor federation, representing 40 unions and millions of skilled workers who move this nation, we wholeheartedly condemn this effort to stomp on the labor rights of the frontline workers who have spent the last two decades strengthening aviation security at more than 400 airports across the nation.
“Transportation Security Officers are already treated as second-class citizens among federal employees as they have continually been deprived of the Title 5 workplace protections granted to nearly all other federal employees. Yet they showed up tirelessly during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. It is shameful that this is how they are repaid for their service just one month after the shutdown ended.
“This union-busting measure comes just one day after a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives passed legislation to restore collective bargaining rights to 1.5 million federal workers. We urge the Senate to swiftly follow suit and pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act. Congress must also pass the bipartisan Rights for the TSA Workforce Act (H.R. 2086) to grant frontline Transportation Security Officers the same Title 5 protections and rights as other federal workers.”
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