A Senate committee voted Thursday to give airport screeners the collective bargaining and whistleblower protection rights that most other federal employees have. On a strict party-line vote, Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee agreed, while all the Republicans voted against, giving the screeners the right to join a union and to be protected from retaliation if they report wrongdoing. The measure, which is opposed by the Bush administration, passed on a vote of 9-8.
See "Senators Give TSA Screeners Union Rights", Beverly Lumpkin, San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 2007