A provision in the 9/11 commission recommendation bill -- S 4 -- currently being reviewed in the U.S. Senate would allow Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers to unionize. The move plays to the natural alliance between organized labor and the Democrats, but is vigorously opposed by free-market Republicans.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has already passed its 9/11 bill, which includes the TSA labor representation measure. But Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said that President Bush would veto any bill that allows screeners to unionize, according to the Post Chronicle. In private remarks made at a February lunch, Chertoff "did make very clear that if the (Sept. 11) bill goes to the White House with the current provision related to TSA personnel authorities, his recommendation, and that of other senior administration officials, would be to veto it," department spokesman Russ Knocke told United Press International.
GOP senators say they have more than enough votes to block the measure. Senate Democrats would need 60 senators to avoid a filibuster of the bill. The original bill that created TSA did not allow workers to unionize, reasoning that the administrator needed flexibility to respond to emergencies like the failed bombing plot in London last August, and a union would take away that flexibility.
I happen to think that labor unions are not necessarily a bad thing, as long as they provide a measured counterbalance to what could become unfair management practices. I am less enthusiastic when unions serve to protect incompetent workers or stifle sound and reasonable work practices. S 4 has many important provisions that need to become law, including funding for Emergency Communications Operability and Interoperable Communications efforts and changes in the visa waiver program.
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