Federal baggage screeners deserve competitive pay, lawmakers say

Federal airport security workers should receive competitive pay and benefits and should have the right to unionize, according to seven Washington-area lawmakers. In a Dec. 7 letter to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the lawmakers urged the Transportation Department to give baggage screeners some civil service protections and a compensation package that is comparable to what other federal employees receive. Members of Congress who signed the letter included Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Frank Wolf, R-Va., Connie Morella, R-Md., Albert Wynn, D-Md., James Moran, D-Va., Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C. "We strongly urge you not to create a two-tiered system of federal employment," said the lawmakers. "The problems associated with the private [security] contractors will continue if these [federal] employees are given short shrift on pay, benefits and the right to form unions and bargain collectively." Employees of the new Transportation Security Administration, including baggage screeners, are exempt from all civil service rules under the airport security bill passed by Congress. The law leaves it up to the head of the new agency to decide whether employees should have civil service rights and what they should be paid. On Monday, Mineta announced that longtime federal law officer John Magaw was the Bush administration's pick to head the agency. Privately, Transportation Department officials admit federal baggage screeners will receive better pay than they received in the private sector, but the agency is still working out the details of the compensation package they will offer. The Office of Personnel Management is helping the Transportation Department devise a compensation package, a system for grading job applicants and a labor relations strategy, according to Steve Cohen, senior advisor to OPM Director Kay Coles James. Most of these compensation issues will be settled by the end of the year, when the new agency will begin taking baggage screener applications. The lawmakers' letter repeats arguments made by federal employee unions, who hold that some civil service rules contained in Title 5 of the U.S. Code should apply to the new Transportation agency. During the debate over federalizing airport security, the American Federation of Government Employees argued that allowing baggage screeners to join unions would not prevent the agency from quickly firing poor performers, a major concern of lawmakers. Civil service rules help create the culture of professionalism that exists in other federal law enforcement agencies, according to the Washington-area lawmakers. "The professionalism currently exhibited by employees from agencies such as the U.S. Customs Service, Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Federal Protective Service and U.S. Capitol Police all occur within the context of Title 5," said the lawmakers. "We believe that this professionalism and commitment occur because of (the) existing civil service framework, not in spite of it."