A federal judge has blocked the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security in their latest attempt to dissolve TSA’s union agreement.

In a Jan. 15 ruling, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead granted an emergency motion to prohibit TSA from eliminating a collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 47,000 airport security screeners. TSA had been planning to dissolve the CBA effective Jan. 18.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents transportation security officers under the CBA, celebrated the ruling.

“TSA officers – many of whom are veterans – are patriotic public servants who swore an oath to protect the safety of the traveling public and to ensure that another horrific attack like September 11 never happens again,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “The administration’s repeated efforts to strip these workers of a voice in their working conditions should concern every person who steps foot in an airport.”

The ruling is the latest development in the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate TSA union rights.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem first moved to eliminate TSA’s union last March. AFGE sued to block that effort, and in June, the court issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited TSA from moving forward with eliminating TSO union rights while the court case played out.

But in September, Noem signed a separate determination that directed TSA to strip security screeners of union rights and eliminate the CBA. DHS and TSA did not announce the new determination until early December. 

TSA argued that the determination was based on a new analysis of the costs associated with the union agreement.

In Whitehead’s latest ruling, however, he pointedly criticized TSA’s latest attempt to eliminate the union agreement. He wrote that officials “do not cite, quote, or otherwise engage with the operative language” in the preliminary injunction, which prohibits TSA and DHS from denying AFGE and TSO’s “any and all rights and/or working conditions guaranteed in the 2024 CBA.”

“The question before the court is straightforward: does defendants’ planned implementation of the September Noem Determination violate the existing preliminary Injunction? The answer is plainly yes,” Whitehead wrote.

He directed TSA to notify bargaining unit TSO’s that the Noem determination will not take effect on Jan. 18, “the 2024 CBA remains applicable and binding, and the currently pending grievances and arbitrations submitted under the 2024 CBA will continue to be processed.”

The case is still scheduled to go to trial in September 2026, absent any new developments or updates.

The post Judge finds TSA violated court order in new attempt to dissolve union first appeared on Federal News Network.