Rights for the Transportation Security Administration Workforce Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I would begin by thanking Chairman Thompson and Chairwoman Maloney and, of course, the committee staff, for really working on these two important amendments that protect our Federal employees within the TSA.
My team and I are proud to have worked with many workers on the ground at our Detroit Metro Airport, one of the most busiest in the country, including Gregory Simpkins, as well as coworkers that met with me about these really important items. The amendments directly respond to issues that they brought to my attention, specifically on their lived experiences as TSA employees.
One major issue that we brought up in an amendment is that TSA is one of the most diverse Federal agencies in our country at its lower level, but its leadership is far less diverse and the agency has struggled with employee retention and promotions from within.
Thanks to the leadership of Chairman Thompson and others, our amendment takes a step towards addressing the issue by directing that we examine the current promotion policies and leadership diversity at the TSA and provide recommendations aimed at improving the diversity of TSA leadership, as well as strategies for how the TSA can better retain and promote current employees into leadership positions.
Mr. Speaker, another major issue brought up by many of the members of the Local 778 of AFGE specifically, was the shocking levels of harassment and violence experienced by TSA employees in their workplace. So we address it with an amendment before us that requires that we examine TSA's efforts right now to ensure the safety of its employees with regard to harassment and assault in the workplace, including incidents where the alleged perpetrator is a member of the general public, and develop recommendations of how TSA can better protect its employees.
This amendment would center its review process around employees themselves, documenting their experiences, getting the feedback to truly improve the safety of their workplace, and factor into it the final recommendations that we would hopefully bring to this body.
I urge my colleagues to truly make this is a safe place for many of our neighbors--many of them, again, working in these sometimes challenging experiences at the airports and at these ports.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, again, to support these two commonsense amendments.
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