The labor union representing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers is sounding the alarm over a new program that would expand privatized security checkpoints at three airports. The agency informed the union last month of plans to implement the TSA Gold+ program, which would shift security and control of screening technology to private contractors at airports in Tampa, Charleston, and Des Moines. Union workers are expected to lose their union contract and benefits once a contractor takes over.
Union Leaders Condemn Move
“This is 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,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), in a statement. “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.”
The AFGE is currently reviewing legal options to fight the privatization push from the Trump administration. Before the TSA was created in November 2001, airport security was operated by private contractors with less stringent standards.
Workers Share Concerns
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. At the time, 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.”
He also raised concerns over security quality. In 2015, an employee working for a private contractor at a Florida airport outside Orlando was fired after reporting a steak knife made it through security. “A private company is going to be concerned with being profitable,” Finlay said. “They’re selling the safety of the traveling public for corporate greed. That’s what is happening.”
Broader Privatization Efforts
Gold+ is the latest TSA privatization effort, building on other initiatives, including an expansion of the screening partnership program that uses private contractors, overseen by the TSA, to handle security screenings at small and non-hub airports. The TSA plans to eliminate roughly 4,500 positions as the program expands to 220 US airports. Unlike Gold+, that program does not allow contractors to own and operate security equipment.
In May, TSA deputy administrator Adam Stahl said that the Gold+ privatization push could eventually include artificial intelligence replacing some security officers. The changes come amid the Trump administration’s proposed TSA budget cuts for fiscal year 2027, which would eliminate 8,400 transportation security officer positions—about 14% of the TSA screening workforce.
Last year, the Trump 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. “The Trump administration’s clear objective is to ultimately privatize all aviation security screening functions, and 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,” Kelley said.
Transition Details
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. A TSA spokesperson said in an email: “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. We look forward to working closely with TPA to implement enhancements that will benefit everyone who travels through this airport.”
