TSA says rule change is meant to keep officers ‘alert’, but union says it ignores safety and ‘common decency’

US airport security officers who verify boarding passes and IDs ahead of security checkpoints will no longer be allowed to sit down while working.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was moving forward with this change in policy to keep officers “alert”, the agency confirmed recently.

The American Federation of Government Employees Council (AFGEC), the union representing TSA officers, pushed back on this decision and said in a statement that it was not involved in the decision.

“These chairs serve as basic ergonomic and safety support for officers that stand and walk on hard surfaces all day,” the union added. “TSA is treating this matter like it is a privilege – it is not; it is basic safety and common decency for the workforce.”

Additionally, the union is calling the TSA’s move a “disregard for employee rights and safety”.

  • BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    15 days ago

    Great, let’s make the people who hold our lives and futures in their hands furious and uncomfortable before we even talk to them. What could possibly go wrong?

    • Zahille7@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 days ago

      I’m pretty sure the goal is to make people not want to fly. Making it harder to travel long distances in short timespans makes it harder to organize large national-scale movements/organizations.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      15 days ago

      I mean, the TSA has literally cause far more dead Americans than the 9/11 hijackers. I wouldn’t give them much credit.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        14 days ago

        How so? I was under the impression that the whole agency could be replaced with cardboard cutouts and nothing would really change except getting on planes might be smoother lol.

      • BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        14 days ago

        No argument here. The TSA are security theater. They don’t actually keep us safe, and their jobs are more or less pointless, but they still hold immense power over us. I personally want the people who have the authority to throw me in a box for no reason to at least have basic rights themselves (like chairs at work), so they can’t use the lack of those things as reasons for treating the rest of us even worse than they already do.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      11 days ago

      they dont hold our lives in their hands, they are security theatre. They were tested in 2015 and they failed to detect mock guns and bombs in 67 out of 70 tests. They are utterly useless and expensive.

      • BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 days ago

        Yes they’re security theatre, but they still have guns and authority over us, even if they’re ineffective. I don’t know about you, but I act very differently around people carrying guns, especially those with the legal authority to use them without consequence.

        They definitely do hold our lives in their hands, in that they can completely ruin (or end) anyone’s life by simply using their authority.

        • kreskin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 days ago

          TSA dont carry guns. Attempts to let them carry guns have been rejected. Because they are untrained and not hired for their smarts. They are classified as security screeners not “sworn officers”. AKA, security guards doing “security” theater. To join TSA you need a GED and be over 18, and theres not a lot else.