Tip from a reader on the recent airline security problem, when a TSA guard was said to have left his post allowing another man to slip under a security rope in his absence. I see no reason why TSA management shouldn't be able to investigate and make a fair determination on their own.
TSA employees are not unionized, but the American Federation of Government Employees is representing him, said union spokesman Derrick Thomas. The union declined to publicly identify him. The TSA has said the guard has been on administrative leave since Tuesday.
But I do believe that if unionized, negligent TSA workers will never be properly disciplined for poor performance, let alone fired. And a union, not our elected government officials, will be making a large number of the calls when it comes to airport security. Okay, maybe calls is the wrong word, I mean, demands. And they won't be making those on behalf of the flying public. Jim DeMint may be wise to keep his hold on Errol Southers given his reluctance to speak out on the issue of TSA unionization.
A person with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday that the Transportation Security Administration worker who allegedly left his post is Ruben Hernandez of Newark. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in progress.
The officer, who has been with the agency for 2 1/2 years, previously received a commendation for job performance, Thomas said.
"He's been rated a model employee," he said. "We intend to fully represent him to make sure this whole investigation is handled correctly and that he's not made a scapegoat for all that's been going wrong with security at the airports."
The union is reviewing reports that the officer was called from his post to investigate a disturbance in the seconds before the security breach, Thomas said.
On a surveillance video released Thursday by the TSA and the Port Authority, the guard is seen sitting at a security podium in an exit lane as passengers stream past on their way out of the terminal.
A man wearing a light-colored jacket stands inside a rope barrier, and the guard approaches the man, apparently telling him to move behind the rope.
Within a minute, the guard leaves the podium again and disappears into the crowd. A woman in a long white coat approaches the podium from inside the terminal; the man sees her and ducks under the security rope, and the two walk past, arm in arm.
