Union aims to halt layoffs of airport screeners

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A labor union representing airport security screeners is preparing a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to block thousands of layoffs.

"We feel that their reduction in work force procedures are seriously flawed and the best way to address it is in court," said Peter Winch, national organizer for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

The Federal Labor Relations Authority, the agency that handles labor issues for the government, ruled Monday that the union cannot represent the screeners in collective bargaining.

But union officials said the decision, which will be appealed, would not stop its lawsuit.

The union sought a ruling from the FLRA that would overturn TSA chief James Loy's order in January forbidding collective bargaining by screeners. He said a union contract could restrict the agency's ability to respond in the war on terror.

Collective bargaining refers to labor agreements in which a union negotiates a single contract for all its members.

TSA administrators have discretion to decide the terms and conditions of screeners' employment, the FLRA ruled.

"We'll still be able to represent them in the lawsuit," Mr. Winch said. "We'll be representing individual claimants. This doesn't change anything."

The AFGE says it representsscreeners at 20 airports nationwide, including all three major airports in the Washington area. Despite a lack of collective bargaining, the union represents workers in grievance procedures, workers' compensation claims, discrimination issues and job-safety complaints.