Authorizing the Transportation Security Administration for FY 2012 and FY 2013

6/02/2011

House Committee on Homeland Security - Subcommittee on Transportation Security

Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Jackson-Lee: Thank you for allowing me to provide this testimony on authorizing the Transportation Security Administration for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. As National President of the National Treasury Employees Union, I represent several thousand Transportation Security Administration Officers. I would like to share with you their priorities as you work to maintain a world-class transportation security system.

END THE UNFAIR PASS PAY SYSTEM

The starting pay under PASS is among the lowest in the government. In addition, the performance system provides many opportunities for favoritism to replace objectivity. The authorization bill should end the PASS system and include placement of the Officers in the General Schedule pay system and the merit system that is used by all of the rest of the federal government. TSA Officers protect our skies and the traveling public. They look for bombs and other prohibited items at checkpoints in airports, they inspect rail cars, and they patrol subways with other law enforcement agencies. They work to make all modes of transportation safe. They should be paid on par with other federal professionals doing similar work. We urge that the language of HR 1881, a bill introduced in the House last year by Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, be made part of your bill.

MAKE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PERMANENT

As you know, TSA has been plagued by terrible morale problems, based in large part on the fact that the TSA Officers have no voice in their workplace and no recourse for what can only be described as management by intimidation. Administrator Pistole’s directive granting collective bargaining rights to TSA Officers will certainly go far in solving these problems. However, we believe that a law must be passed granting permanent collective bargaining rights.

SUSPEND PSEs UNTIL FURTHER STUDY

Despite many conversations with TSA management, the annual recertification for TSOs continues to be mired in controversy. Our members attribute this to insufficient training of those administering tests and those taking them, unfair testing methods, an inability to verify or question results, and a lack of meaningful remediation. Many employees think TSA is engineering failures to lower PASS scores as a method of controlling agency salary and bonus costs. These testing problems are so serious and so prevalent that they undermine the Agency’s credibility with employees. Recognizing that annual recertification is required by statute, NTEU believes that your legislation should include a provision stating that the current round of PSE tests should be suspended and an interim recertification system put in place. NTEU respectfully asks the Committee to direct the GAO to conduct a study of the Practical Skills Evaluations conducted at TSA, focusing on how the evaluations are scheduled, how they are conducted and by whom, reports of problems found at the airport level, and possible solutions, and the effect of PSEs on PASS scores. After the problem has been sufficiently studied, we would be happy to work with your Subcommittee and TSA management to come up with a system of testing that is fair and transparent. At the very least, PSEs should not be part of the PASS score until a study is completed.

RIGHT-SIZE STAFFING/CAREER PATHS

Staffing continues to be a problem at many airports. For instance, baggage personnel are often pulled off the lines in baggage to assist at the checkpoints, but then the baggage area is understaffed, resulting in injuries. Despite the fact that attrition among part-time workers remains extraordinarily high, TSA continues to hire part-timers almost exclusively. We urge the Subcommittee to instruct TSA to create a career path for part-time workers to full-time status, making use of the training provided these workers. The authorization bill should instruct TSA to review its staffing needs in light of the changing nature of procedures and equipment used to carry out its mission.

AIRPORT SCREENING IS AN INHERENTLY GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTION

As your Committee works to create a security system that is seamless, private screening companies are clamoring to provide screening at various airports. Administrator Pistole has issued guidelines that state that unless there is a clear national security advantage for private screening companies to provide screening, it should remain a governmental function. It makes no sense to create a seamless security system within TSA, with multiple layers of security, and then allow holes in that security system where the government contracts out the screening process. Sections 44919 and 44920 should be struck from title 49.

ENACT A REASONABLE UNIFORM ALLOWANCE

The uniform allowance at TSA is woefully insufficient. Although TSA Officers are the lowest paid professionals in the federal government, the allowance offered by TSA does not even cover one complete uniform. We would like to see a provision in your bill amending section 44935(j) of title 49 to order TSA to pay an allowance of at least $1000 to new employees, and at least $800 per year thereafter, for new uniforms.

RETENTION PAY

In some areas of the country, the Gulf Coast and Hawaii, for instance, TSA has ended retention pay. Although it is true that the economy is changing, we believe the TSA studies have serious flaws. For instance, none of the studies done before retention pay was cut considered the cost of training new TSA officers to replace those who leave when the pay decreases dramatically, or the impact on local economies. In some cases, employees face decreases of 35% of pay. We urge you to consider addressing this problem in your legislation.

We appreciate all the work your Subcommittee does to keep the traveling public safe and secure. We stand ready to assist in this worthy goal. I hope you will keep in mind these ideas generated by the NTEU Transportation Security Administration Officers in your deliberations on the TSA Authorization.