The Donald Trump administration is prohibiting TSA officers from sitting on the job as they ban and remove chairs at airport checkpoints.
On Tuesday (September 29), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed the new rule as claims began surfacing late last week.
TSA agents checking boarding passes and IDs will no longer allowed to be sitting down while working. All chairs will be removed from the trail document-checker podiums at the entrance to checkpoints nationwide. In a statement to ABC News, TSA officials summarized its reasons as twofold: 1) to ensure employees meet fitness standards; and 2) to create an amiable environment for travelers. In the statement, the agency said:
“This welcome change reinforces both our security posture and our commitment to hospitality by having these officers on their feet and alert. All officers must meet fitness for duty requirements to be capable of performing their vital national security function while simultaneously creating a welcoming and professional environment for travelers.”
Despite the TSA’s reasons for the change on chairs, The American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100, the union representing TSA agents and officers, is pushing back on the chair ban. The union insists chairs are “a basic ergonomic and safety support and not a privilege.”
The union further called out the agency for “disregarding employee rights and safety.” In a statement released on Friday (September 25), the union wrote:
“Today, Council 100 was made aware by our members in the field, that TSA Headquarters made a consequential decision to remove all chairs at the Travel Document Checker (TDC) position on a nationwide level. These chairs serve as basic ergonomic and safety support for officers that stand and walk on hard surfaces all day. TSA is treating this matter like it is a privilege— it is not; it is basic safety and common decency for the workforce. Further, this change in working conditions is likely based on TSA’s current leadership working groups at headquarters that did not involve the union. This disregard for employee rights and safety is an example of a broad pattern of TSA’s true consideration of the employees who keep our nation safe. Council 100 strongly urges you, Local leaders, to communicate with the workforce in real time that we are moving aggressively to address this matter; and we implore you and your members to reach out to your congressional and senatorial leadership regarding this serious work safety concern. This is an opportune time to meet with members and non-members alike to tell and show them the importance of joining this union to form our collective resistance against this regime that is literally attempting to take out our workforce through whichever means possible.”
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