TSA informs union of plan to privatize screening at three airports

Proposed 2027 budget would eliminate 14% of TSA screening positions

The American Federation of Government Employees said it is reviewing legal options after the Transportation Security Administration notified the union last month of plans to enact the TSA Gold+ program, which would shift security screening and control of screening technology to private contractors at airports in Tampa, Charleston and Des Moines. Union workers at those airports are expected to lose their union contract and benefits once a contractor takes over.

Gold+ is the latest TSA privatization effort, adding to other initiatives including an expansion of the screening partnership program, which uses private contractors overseen by the agency to handle security screenings at small and non-hub airports. Unlike Gold+, that program does not allow contractors to own and operate security equipment. The agency plans to eliminate roughly 4,500 positions as the program expands to 220 US airports.

The changes come in the wake of the Trump administration’s proposed TSA budget cuts for fiscal year 2027, which would entail eliminating 8,400 transportation security officer positions, about 14% of the TSA screening workforce. In May, TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl said the Gold+ privatization push could eventually include artificial intelligence replacing some security officers.

Before the TSA was created in November 2001 by the Bush administration after the September 11 attacks, airport security was operated by private contractors with less stringent standards. Everett Kelley, national president of the AFGE, described Gold+ as “a major departure and step backwards from the aviation screening security system that Congress created in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the deadly bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland in 1988.” He said “changes of this magnitude should not be made behind closed doors without the input of Congress, the flying public, the local airport authorities and TSA employees themselves.”

Chris Finlay, a TSA worker in Tampa and president of AFGE local 556, recounted his experience at another Florida airport where, 12 years ago, a private contractor took over screening. Finlay said TSA agents were told their salary would remain the same, only for the contractor to cut pay a few weeks into employment.

“For a private contract company, they’re not doing it out of duty for the traveling public or the constitution or anything. They’re doing it because it’s a business decision,” Finlay said. “As a business, their primary goal is to be profitable, and staffing is the most expensive part of that contract, so if they can reduce how much they have to pay staff, they’re going to.”

Finlay also raised concerns over security quality, noting that in 2015 an employee working for the private contractor at the Florida airport outside Orlando was fired after reporting that a steak knife had made it through security to the contractor. “A private company is going to be concerned with being profitable,” he said. “They’re selling the safety of the traveling public for corporate greed. That’s what is happening.”

Kelley said “the Trump administration’s clear objective is to ultimately privatize all aviation security screening functions,” adding that “we don’t have to theorize about what that may look like because we have been through this before and witnessed the devastating and deadly consequences.” Last year, the administration tried to eliminate collective bargaining agreements for 47,000 TSA employees — first in March and again in December — though federal judges blocked both efforts.

A TSA spokesperson said in an email that “TSA Gold+ presents a new way for TPA [Tampa international airport] to deliver exceptional service to every traveler, while advancing security, efficiency, and the overall airport experience. Throughout this transition, we remain committed to operational stability and supporting our employees.” The spokesperson said the agency looks forward “to working closely with TPA to implement enhancements that will benefit everyone who travels through this airport.”

TSA officers will have first right of refusal to move their employment, and affected employees will either receive severance or retirement based on their years of service with the agency.