GOP trying again to block TSA collective bargaining rights

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2011/02/gop_trying_again_to_block_tsa.html

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 02/ 8/2011

GOP trying again to block TSA collective bargaining rights

By Ed O'Keefe

GOP lawmakers are launching what could be the first of several efforts to keep some of the government's most high-profile workers from gaining greater union rights.

Republicans have kept union representatives from negotiating on behalf of airport security screeners since Congress established the Transportation Security Administration after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and with the Obama administration on the verge of granting limited collective bargaining rights to transportation security officers, they're trying again.

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are cosponsoring an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would prohibit TSA screeners from having collective bargaining rights.