WHEN WILL THEY GET IT!- Article from Screener-Central.com

This article was taken from Screener-Central.com
Contarary to the bullshit that is spoon fed to you during briefings by supervisors who censor information that is given to Screeners and the fuzzy feel good get togethers that the FSD and the AFSD do on an irregular basis, they're are sources of information out there on the internet. I am researching some of these and will include a list of links real soon to those of you who don't already know about these websites.


Pittsburgh Resignations Another Illustration of Widespread Corruption and Abuse

The recent resignations of three senior TSA officials at Pittsburgh International Airport are just one more in a series of blatant examples of an agency that is inherently corrupt and does its utmost to cover up wrongdoing until it can no longer deny it.

The three Pittsburgh officials -- FSD Robert Blose, AFSD Craig Martelle, and DFSD for Screening Bill Rough -- resigned following an investigation that culminated in a peer review board made up of other TSA officials, including FSDs from other airports.
TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis declined to discuss the investigation and would not say whether that led to the resignations, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

What a shock. Even when the TSA knows that we know the reasons behind the "resignation for personal reasons" farce, the agency fals back into its old M.O. -- deny, deny, deny.

But what the TSA cannot deny is that the problems faced by sreeners in the form of abusive and corrupt senior management exist and that the problem is more widespread than it would like to believe.

Seattle-Tacoma. Buffalo. Pittsburgh. Sacramento. Guam. Saipan. Houston. Miami. Chicago. Albany. Portland.

Abusive management is all over, it seems. Threats and intimidation, retaliation, non-promotion of whistleblowers, shredding of documents, falsified reports and complaints against screeners, sexual harassment, failure to properly investigate criminal complaints, lying in response to Congressional inquiries, actively working to thwart employee's workers compensation claims, failing to maintain official documents...

And the EEO complaints keep piling up.

Three years of substantially poor treatment of screeners is still not enough, it seems. The TSA administration still turns a blind eye whenever it can. Only when there is concrete, physical proof of wrongdoing, when Congressional representatives inquire, and when the media reports on allegations of wrongdoing does the TSA take truly pro-active steps to eliminate the problem.

And in the end, the officials who are responsible for the abuses are allowed to "resign for personal reasons."

As far as I'm concerned, the officials who are found to have earned a trip to the exit door should be terminated from employment. Allowing them to "resign" is an insult to every TSA screener who has suffered at their hands, who has been wrongfully terminated, and who has suffered emotionally and physically from sexual harassment and retaliation.

According to one news report, "TSA employees at Pittsburgh International were told Tuesdday to let their three former managers pack their belongings and leave the airport quietly." Why? Those officials should have had to walk the gantlet, facing each and every screener on their long walk to their office, that enclave of mismanagement, to collect their personal items, and then faced those same screeners on their way out the door. As the door closed behind them, a mighty cheer and roar should be heard from inside.

Former TSA employee Burns said it well, I thought. ""I think they put the word out that they wanted to let these guys have some dignity and respect. Unfortunately, we weren't given any respect. We put up with their abuse for three years."

Amen.

Some of the same allegations made against the Pittsburgh officials have been made right here in Sacramento. Pittsburgh screeners complained that "they were sexually harassed... and complaints were not investigated. Accusers say they were intimidated. The alleged harassment included ... inappropriate hugging, threats involving sexual innuendoes...," all of which have happened at SMF as well as other airports around the country.

It's a shame that the TSA doesn't take all such complaints seriously. God bless the screeners in Pittsburgh who got some action, but I suspect that without Congressional intervention and reporting by the media the three abusive managers would still be there and most of the complaining screeners would be gone.

It's long past time for things to turn around in the TSA. Unfortunately a lot of people are going to have to go or have a rapid and complete change of heart for that to happen. It's more likely that the TSA will be disbanded than the idiots running things will actually decide to do right by their employees who are suffering injustices.

Catch a clue, TSA. You're managers are treating "your most valuable resource" like utter crap, and you're losing some of your best people because of it.

It's not too late for those at the top of the TSA food chain to redeem themselves. But it's going to take a lot. At this point I think it's going to take a lot more than they have. Desire is no longer enough.

Mark Arsenault
Webmaster, Admin, and Head Janitor
Screeners Central