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submitted 4 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

Trump is revoking collective bargaining rights at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), ending union protections for thousands of airport security officers.

The Department of Homeland Security claims the move will improve efficiency and security, but unions argue it is a retaliatory attack on federal workers.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) plans to challenge the decision. TSA workers fear the rollback will worsen working conditions and retention.

The policy reverses union rights granted under Obama and expanded by Biden.

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[-] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 165 points 4 days ago

My love for unions eclipses my hatred for the TSA on this one.

[-] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 47 points 4 days ago

The destruction of one union harms all unions.

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

Well except for one.

[-] Arbiter@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago

Yeah, pig unions deserve to roast.

[-] noxypaws@pawb.social 34 points 4 days ago

TSA is way more like mall security than police tho.

ACAB all the way, and TSA is little more than a hollow performance, basically security flavored LaCroix that ought to be abolished as genuinely wasteful and needlessly degrading and inconvenient to travelers.

But I don't really see TSA agents as cops. I'm sure the line blurs in some specific cases, but they're not going around murdering people with impunity like cops do.

[-] cogman@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Sort of my feelings here. This isn't like the FBI or CIA that actively go around trying to fuck people over. Airports wouldn't function if they acted like that and politicians LOVE to fly.

But also, the TSA is a place we need to defund and mostly dismantle. There's no reason an airport needs so much security theater other than it makes rich people feel good. They need about as much security as a subway does (not much).

That said, they aren't first on my list for "defund the police". That honor belongs to ICE.

[-] Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago

Police Unions are gangs. Not labor unions.

[-] Jessica@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 4 days ago

Pretty sure you misunderstood op. They're saying their hatred of TSA is overshadowed by their love of unions meaning they think this is bad because as the other person said, harm to one union harms all unions.

[-] Arbiter@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

I may be stupid and unable to read but at least I don’t work for the TSA.

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 95 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Remember, it's not a right if it can be taken away! Your right to collectively bargain comes from the fact that there are hundreds of you and one of him, not because he "allowed" it.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 33 points 4 days ago

Then striking workers have no legal protections, either. Better than no strikes, but we've basically lost 100 years of progress.

[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

The fun thing about wildcat strikes though is that you don't need legal protections for them to work. See new York's illegal prison strike for a good recent example.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

That's true, and it's probably the only way forward at this point, but it sure makes things harder than they needed to be.

[-] Jhex@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Yeap but apparently there are hundreds ofn thousands of sheep or wolves that like to be trampled

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 69 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

TSA could strike and airports would be better for it... That's a dangerous game for the admin to play.

[-] SippyCup@feddit.nl 18 points 3 days ago

The way the TSA strikes is by causing massive delays for passengers going through security. The last time they did that, the security line at Atlanta international was 2 and a half hours long at times. It wound all the way back to the check in.

[-] paranoid@lemmy.world 32 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I think that's part of the strategy here. "Look at this, I busted up this union and now flying is the most enjoyable it has ever been"

Edit: another piece of this is how much money would be saved by liquidating the TSA.

I know five or six people who work for the TSA, and every one of them are MAGA

[-] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 4 days ago

I know five or six people who work for the TSA, and every one of them are MAGA

And yet it's very likely they won't put two and two together to figure out the sitting Republican president is responsible for their weakened union. Still, this couldn't have happened to more deserving people.

[-] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Didn’t you hear? It’s all Biden’s fault that Trump is being forced to do this. That’s good enough for them.

[-] joyjoy@lemm.ee 7 points 4 days ago

Odds are they didn't like the Union in the first place.

[-] metaldream@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 days ago

That won't happen though. They won't be replaced with anyone, there will be massive delays instead.

But very few people will side with the TSA on this anyway.

[-] pinheadednightmare@lemm.ee 28 points 3 days ago

STRIKE TSA!!!!! Don’t let them do this to you.

[-] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 52 points 4 days ago

Pardon my ignorance, but how does this even work? Like, don't they just walk off the job collectively until someone is willing to negotiate with them?

[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 56 points 4 days ago

That's how unions are supposed to work. It's really the only bargaining chip workers have, at least until we can all be 100% replaced by ai and robots...

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[-] match@pawb.social 31 points 4 days ago

Americans are so corporatized that they mistakenly think the power of unions comes from the government

[-] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 7 points 4 days ago

Which is pretty effective propaganda.

Union busters have spent a lot of money to make it feel that way.

[-] med@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

And that's exactly why they're in some part right. If you have enough money to buy scabs, and protection for the scabs, the union relies on the government making that illegal.

It's the break down of the pact. At a small scale anyway - obviously the longer it goes on and the further they go with the busting attempts, the more union actions will cause ripples in other industries, and solidarity movements. They can't buy protection everywhere, and if they try, it's escalation all the way to the bloodshed that wrote the pact in the first place.

[-] JPAKx4 15 points 4 days ago

The "protection" is the government not firing people for collective bargaining or collective actions. This is similar to when Reagan fired a bunch of ATC strikers and ever since then we've had a massive shortage of ATC personnel.

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[-] DevCat@lemmy.world 47 points 4 days ago

Okay, so he revoked the collective bargaining rights. He didn't revoke the ability to go out on strike, though. It just won't be an organized strike.

Weren't strikes the compromise to the other option, namely dragging the owners out of the factory and beating them in the streets? Maybe they just want to go back to the original system.

[-] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 20 points 4 days ago

Just remember:

When beating your boss, use a bag of Florida oranges. They hurt like the devil and don't leave a mark.

[-] Graphy@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Just a heads up that beating your boss will leave a bruise but go ahead and do it anyways

[-] Yankee_Self_Loader@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Bing Crosby is that you?

[-] Moose@moose.best 5 points 4 days ago

And you get some delicious orange juice after!

[-] sibachian@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago

seems luigi didn't make the message loud enough.

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[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

Naw they'll still be organized too. The strikers just don't have legal protections anymore.

[-] P1k1e@lemmy.world 34 points 4 days ago

Hang on, I'm probably crazy but Im seeing a trend here.... Are they hoping for another 9/11? Cuz I could totally see them trying for another 9/11. TSA ain't even that effective so it's not really about them existing or not, but more about the idea, that it could happen again

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago

considering how 9/11 made the American people so eager to embrace fascism, yeah why not?

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[-] 0ndead@infosec.pub 36 points 4 days ago

The TSA never provided any tangible increase in airport security. DOGE could have started here.

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Yeah, planes have been falling out of the sky pretty regularly lately without assistance from terrorists.

[-] ajikeshi@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

without assistance from terrorists

i would argue, that the terrorists are just in office now

[-] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 15 points 4 days ago

Oh look, leopards at the airport

[-] boydster@sh.itjust.works 21 points 4 days ago

I would so love for every single TSA worker to walk out in protest of this fuckery

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago

Trump was open about his hatred for unions and worker rights leading up to the election and working Americans still showed up and made him president.

I can't even blame this one on Trump. For once he was actually honest about his intentions. This is all on stupid Americans.

[-] Bieren@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

Fuck em. Shut down the airports.

The TSA workers have the same simple solution to a shit boss everyone else has. If the BS out paces the pay, walk away.

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[-] MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

How does anyone control one’s ability to collectively bargain. Seems like a demand the group makes and doesn’t require permission for.

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

How can he unilaterally do this? How has he been given or taken this much power?

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

How has he been given or taken this much power?

Well.

One of Congress' jobs is to reign in the power of the president and make sure the branches of government are balanced.

Congress is controlled by Republicans.

Republicans are spineless cowards.

They've given up their Congressional powers to their felon rapist traitor daddy.

You are literally witnessing the collapse of the U.S. federal government to an authoritarian. Because it can, in fact, happen here.

[-] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

so the orange skin bag with the tumbleweed toupee is the dude 'in charge', but his dom is actually the south african nazi so he holds the reins; nazi dom was given the role because he has money and no morals, which aligns with republican 'values' of being spineless, unintelligent, and greedy

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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
446 points (100.0% liked)

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