TSA says rule change is meant to keep officers ‘alert’, but union says it ignores safety and ‘common decency’
US airport security officers who verify boarding passes and IDs ahead of security checkpoints will no longer be allowed to sit down while working.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was moving forward with this change in policy to keep officers “alert”, the agency confirmed recently.
The American Federation of Government Employees Council (AFGEC), the union representing TSA officers, pushed back on this decision and said in a statement that it was not involved in the decision.
“These chairs serve as basic ergonomic and safety support for officers that stand and walk on hard surfaces all day,” the union added. “TSA is treating this matter like it is a privilege – it is not; it is basic safety and common decency for the workforce.”
Additionally, the union is calling the TSA’s move a “disregard for employee rights and safety”.
They’ve definitely re-upped their efforts to make federal workers want to quit in the past few weeks. There’s a pay freeze planned for next year (luckily inflation is so low /s) and, at my agency, they added a cap to performance evaluations limiting the number of positive reviews managers can give. They can give as many negative reviews as they want. Performance reviews affect bonuses, promotions, and a bad one can be a pretext for firing.
That’s federal government wide. As I heard it, the cap is that only 40% of the entire federal workforce can receive a 5 in any category on performance evals. Luckily for me, my worksite just got a 14.5% special rate table approved 6ish months ago, so the 0% raise will still hurt, but not as bad as it will for everyone else.