1	Where Do We Start? Building A Union Without Collective Bargaining: The TSA Model Presented by: Sharon R. Pinnock Labor Futurist & Director of Membership & Organization, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO March 14, 2005 Crystal City Hyatt Arlington, VA
2	BACKGROUND The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in a post- 9/11 environment. Public Law was enacted in Nov 2001 creating TSA & federalizing the screener function. Over 65,000 workers, of which 50,000 are screeners – no bargaining rights.
3	THEORY Open Source Unionism (OSU) Minority-union campaign Employee rights based vs. union rights No legal certification required Long term goals vs. short term goals (Freeman & Rogers, 2002: The Nation)_
4	THEORY Action Research Research in action, as opposed to research about action A collaborative, democratic process pioneered by Kurt Lewin in the late 40’s A sequence of events and approach to problem solving A 4-step process of diagnosing, action planning, taking action & evaluating action (Coghlan & Brannick, 2005: Doing Action Research in Your Organization )
5	ACTION RESEARCH MODEL (Coghlan & Brannick, 2005)
6	THE PLAN To establish a union identity among TSA workers in spite of the absence of collective bargaining. To win collective bargaining rights over time through congressional/public pressure.
7	THE ACTION Collect showing of interest cards & build worker data base.
8	THE ACTION Deploy organizers (AFGE staff and Prewitt Organizing Fund (POF) staff to major airports on a recurring basis. Develop on site worker committees to establish 2-way communication.
9	THE ACTION Create multi-functional TSA project team. Stay focused on Voice @ Work issues. Build support for union through ongoing & varied communications.
10	THE ACTION Use earned media to keep “Voice@Work” issue in the public discourse. Establish AFGE as “The Union” representing TSA workers.
11	THE LEARNING Using the OSU model, workers will form and join unions. TSA Local 1 has over 800 members paying $15 per month in dues. Unions do not have to be certified by the government to exist.
12	THE LEARNING Collaboration with the screeners, the AFL-CIO organizing Department/CLC’s adds value to the effort. Experimentation with non-traditional forms of organizing are useful (POF, Zogby, Zoomerang, Action Research approach). TSA has had an inoculating effect on plans to revise the DHS and DOD personnel systems.
13	THE LEARNING The OSU Model is hard to sustain High turnover High frustration level Difficulty maintaining campaign focus Budget pressure to divert funds to more lucrative campaigns Huge learning curve
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