December 15, 2025

Categories: TSA, The Insider

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. House of Representatives took bipartisan action to restore collective bargaining rights to more than one million federal workers, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she was unilaterally terminating the collective bargaining agreement between AFGE and the Transportation Security Administration covering 47,000 TSA officers.

Noem’s decision follows a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in June that blocked her March 7 attempt to terminate our union contract.

As the exclusive union representative for the TSA workforce, AFGE National President Everett Kelley vowed to see the administration in court.

“TSA officers, many of whom are veterans, are patriotic individuals who swore an oath to protect the safety of the traveling public in our airports and in our skies, ensuring that another horrific attack like Sept. 11 never happens again. Secretary Noem’s decision to rip up the union contract for 47,000 TSA officers is an illegal act of retaliatory union-busting that should cause concern for every person who steps foot in an airport,” Kelley said.

“AFGE will continue to challenge these illegal attacks on our members’ right to belong to a union, and we urge the Senate to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act immediately.”

AFGE Council 100 President Hydrick Thomas said revoking TSA’s union contract could result in undoing much of the progress that has been made following the 2001 terrorist attacks to improve the work environment across the 400 airports where AFGE represents TSA employees.

“TSA officers take pride in the work we perform on behalf of the American people – many of us joined the agency following the Sept. 11 attacks because we wanted to serve our country and make sure that the skies are safe for air travel,” Thomas said.

“Prior to having a union contract, many employees endured hostile work environments and workers felt like they didn’t have a voice on the job, which led to severe attrition rates and longer wait times for the traveling public. Since having a contract, we’ve seen a more stable workforce, and there has never been another aviation-related attack on our country.”