TSA agents’ morale draws attention
Lawmakers aim to slow turnover, improve performance at airports
LOS ANGELES — The starting pay is about $34,000 a year with no automatic pay raises based on tenure. They are on the front line in the battle against terrorism but don’t carry a gun. Their employer is routinely the punchline of jokes on late-night television shows.
Such is the life of a TSA screener.
“Every now and then, we get thanked by the public, but for the most part, it’s a pretty thankless job,” said Bobby Orozco, a Transportation Security Administration screener at Los Angeles International Airport.
With U.S. airports handling record crowds this summer, airlines and federal lawmakers say they want to improve morale and reduce the unusually high turnover rate among the nation’s TSA screeners to ensure security lines are well-staffed during peak travel periods.
Lines that kept travelers waiting for two hours and longer this spring even persuaded airlines to donate money and workers to help TSA speed up the queues. The slowdowns prompted the Republican Party to call for TSA reform in its party platform this summer.
The attrition rate among full-time TSA screeners has been growing over the last few years and is especially high among parttimers, about 1 in 5 of the workers.
The TSA recently was ranked nearly last among all federal agencies in a job satisfaction survey.
Without a fix, travelers can expect continued staffing shortages at the TSA and long lines at airport screening checkpoints.
“The system is broken, no doubt about that,” said Orozco, who is also presi- dent of his local union.
Lawmakers and aviation experts have offered two solutions: give airport screeners a raise and improve their employee protection rights or turn over more airports to private security firms, which have a reputation for happier workers and a lower turnover rate.
The TSA employs about 42,500 screeners, down about 10 percent from 47,000 in 2012, according to the organization. Meanwhile, the number of passengers screened at U.S. airports is expected to reach 740 million this year, up about 16 percent from 638 million in 2012, the agency said.
“There are not enough transportation security officers, and that is very evident,” said J. David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA screeners.
One reason for the decline in screeners is that Congress cut the TSA budget, assuming that more travelers would sign up for programs such as TSA PreCheck, which offers expedited screening lines for frequent fliers who pass a government background check.
Another reason for the drop is the turnover rate, according to union officials who represent TSA workers. They blame low pay and difficult working conditions and being denied the full rights given to other federal employees.
TSA representatives declined to comment on the subject, citing negotiations with the union. But in testimony before Congress, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger has stressed the need for extra training to address morale problems.
“I have worked to set up our frontline officers for success through improved training, enhanced proto- cols and advancing technology,” he told a congressional panel in June.
The TSA was created after the 9/11 attacks, replacing private security officers hired by individual airlines and overseen by the federal government.
But Congress initially didn’t give TSA workers the same employee rights as other federal workers, such as the right to unionize, rely on collective bargaining for employee contracts or appeal disciplinary actions to a thirdparty board.
It wasn’t until 2011 that TSA administrators allowed airport screeners to join a union. But TSA workers still have fewer rights than other federal workers, including other security and law enforcement staffers.
TSA officers, for example, don’t get regular pay raises based solely on tenure. TSA screeners now get raises based only on performance and promotions. As a result, a TSA officer who has five or 10 years of experience can earn the same as a newly hired TSA officer.
“You have folks that have been here since 2002 and are making the same amount as someone who has been here about a year,” Orozco said. “That doesn’t add up.”
In addition, new hires start as probationary screeners for two years, during a time that most maintain their starting salary. Orozco and Cox say many quit before they complete the probationary period.
The number of full-time TSA screeners who leave their jobs voluntarily has been on the rise in the last five years, increasing to 9.5 percent of TSA screeners in 2015 from 4.2 percent in 2010, according to a congressional budget report. Among part-time TSA workers, the rate has jumped to 19 percent in 2015 from 13 percent in 2010, the federal report says.