Don't Believe What You Hear: TSA's Labor Contract Remains In Force - AFGE

AFGE’s contract covering 47,000 employees at the Transportation Security Administration remains in effect – despite a partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.

AFGE has heard numerous reports of TSA managers using the funding lapse to spread misinformation and stoke confusion in order to convince transportation security officers that their labor rights have been terminated.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Let’s set the record straight: AFGE is still your union and your union rights are still intact! Agency leaders and the Trump administration have made numerous attempts to terminate our contract and they have not succeeded,” AFGE Council 100 President Hydrick Thomas said in a recent email to all of TSA’s union members.

When it comes to our contract, here’s how we’ve continued to fight for the rights of TSOs:

• In March 2025, AFGE led a coalition of unions in suing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others in the administration for the unlawful and unilateral termination of our negotiated union contract covering all eligible TSOs.
• In June 2025, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the administration from unilaterally terminating our TSA contract.
• In December 2025, Noem announced that she was cancelling the contract despite the injunction. We immediately filed a motion to enforce, asking the court to require that the administration abide by the preliminary injunction.
• On Jan. 15 of this year, the court granted our motion, declaring that our 2024 collective bargaining agreement remains in effect.

“Over the past year we know that this administration has tried to make the workplace feel impossible for so many federal workers. Through it all you keep showing up and delivering on the promise to keep the flying public safe,” Thomas said.

“Together, as workers and union members, we will keep the pressure on management, agency leaders and this administration to end this attack on federal workers.”

Any AFGE member who has questions about their workplace rights, whether at the TSA or any other agency, should contact their worksite union representatives for clarity.