McBath Leads Colleagues in Urging TSA Administrator to Respect the Dignity of Hard-Working Agents

In the last year, TSA officers have been forced to work 88 days without on-time payment. Now, leadership has taken away their chairs. Atlanta, GA – Today, Representative Lucy McBath (GA-06), is leading 37 of her House colleagues in urging TSA Administrator David P. Cummins support the well-being of TSA agents and the safety of the nation by reversing his decision to remove their chairs at document check stations in airports around the country. This letter is officially endorsed by AFGE, AFGE TSA Council 100, and AFGE TSA Local 554 in Atlanta. McBath, who was a flight attendant for 30 years before she came to Congress, represents many of the employees of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International—America’s busiest airport. “Transportation Security Officers, or TSOs, have an incredibly important job. They are the first line of defense in keeping Americans and their families safe during air travel,” the members write. “Since October of last year, officers at TSA have been forced to work 88 days without being paid on time. They have had to fight in court to protect their collective bargaining agreement from being unilaterally canceled and are now being told that they are not allowed to sit down while they perform their duties at checker stations. It is abundantly clear that these changes are intended to try to push officers out of their jobs with TSA, not to keep the American people safe or improve service.” “This is about more than chairs,” the members continue. “This is about the respect that every person in the United States deserves at work and on the job. American workers are tired of being treated as expendable.” “TSA officers have continued to show up and protect the traveling public through government shutdowns, delayed pay, and attacks on their collective bargaining rights. Removing chairs from document checker stations is yet another unnecessary hardship placed on an already strained workforce, and I commend Congresswoman McBath and her congressional colleagues for standing with our officers and demanding the dignity, respect, and working conditions they deserve,” s aid Aaron Barker Jr., President of AFGE Local 554. In addition to Representative Lucy McBath, the letter is signed by Representatives Nanette Barragán, Salud Carbajal, André Carson, Troy Carter, Kathy Castor, Jasmine Crockett, Danny Davis, Mark DeSaulnier, Lois Frankel, Maxwell Frost, Robert Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Al Green, Adelita Grijalva, Pablo Hernández, Val Hoyle, Glenn Ivey, Jonathan Jackson, Hank Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Tim Kennedy, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Betty McCollum, Christian Menefee, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Emily Randall, Mary Gay Scanlon, Greg Stanton, Mark Takano, Bennie Thompson, Gabe Vasquez, Marc Veasey, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Nikema Williams, and Frederica Wilson. The full text of the letter is available here .