1) The are not on the GS system. They have their own pay "bands" "D" "F" "K". I think that there are about 4 bands. A full time employee in the lowest band would be about $ 32k
2) There are NO step increases. I would guess that the average TSA worker gets about $ 40k whether they were there 3 years or 33 years. As they get certified to higher positions they can move up a band or two but there is very little potential for growth.
TSA Management is not well paid either. The top management at one of the largest airports, Phoenix for example, where they supervise around 800 employees tops out at around $ 75,000 or less than a federal law enforcement officer gets by the 4th year of employment.
3) They do get the normal federal benefits but most of them cannot afford dental or other types of supplemental insurance.
4) They now have the right to join a union, the AFGE, but their power has been undermined. First the number of dedicated positions is a fraction of other federal unions. Where there are 700 union members, like Phoenix, you would expect to see 2-3 dedicated positions where 100% or even 50% of their time is on union work, which is almost all about representation on disciplinary matters. In Phoenix they have one half time position.
While rarely done disputes for other federal government workers can be appealed to Department of Labor and eventually outside courts. In the TSA everything is handled internally and the head of the TSA is the last possible point of appeal, so there is no independent check on abuse.
5) They are obviously not classified as law enforcement but they don't even get the next level known as security officers. That means when killed in the line of duty their beneficiaries are not entitled to ANY extra benefits.
Officer Hernandez, the first TSA Officer killed in the line of duty was a behavior detection officer which is kind of the elite of TSA officers, they are in plain clothes and mingle with passengers in pre boarding to detect people who are acting strangely before they get to the screening lines. TSO officers are alerted to give enhanced screening. He was shot 12 times and would not have survived his wounds but no effort was made to move him for 33 minutes.
TSO officers are not covered for being killed in the line of duty and special compensation literally had to be made as an act of Congress:
The gunman shot TSA Officer Gerardo I. Hernandez, age 39, at the airport. Hernandez was pronounced dead after arriving at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center,[9][10] although coroner officials asserted that he was dead within a few minutes of getting shot.[11] Hernandez is the first TSA officer in the twelve-year history of the agency to have been killed on the job.[12][13] A behavior detection officer, Hernandez had immigrated to the United States from El Salvador at age 15.[14] According to an autopsy report, Hernandez was shot 12 times, with his heart being grazed several times and his bladder and intestines pierced. More than 40 bullet fragments were also lodged in his body, and he died within two to five minutes after being shot.[15]
Hernandez, an immigrant who proved his love for his adopted country died in its service after being killed by Paul Anthony Ciancia a 23 year old loser who was influenced by alt right propaganda and needed a ride from his roommate (who thought he was returning home to New Jersey) to get to the airport because he didn't have a car.
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