TSA Employees Get Big Bump in Pay, Agency Asks for Continued Funding
Thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, including airport security screeners and other personnel, are now getting a significant raise, some as much as 31 percent, as TSA implemented its new pay scale.
The big pay bump brings TSA employees in line with other government employees, as the TSA scale now mirrors the General Schedule (GS) wage system. There has been a discrepancy between pay for TSA agents and other law enforcement agencies, as TSA was excluded from the Title 5 system upon its creation 20 years ago.
In addition, TSA and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) are in the midst of negotiating a full collective bargaining agreement.
The Transportation Security Compensation plan gives 60,000 workers as much as a 31 percent raise starting with their paycheck in Mid-July. The raises were funded through $398 million included in the Homeland Security appropriations bill last year and were championed by then Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
“This funding represents by far the biggest advancement for the workforce in TSA’s history,” said Rep. Thompson. “In fact, it’s the largest federal pay bump in the last 30 years, and probably ever.”
Rep. Thompson, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, TSA Administrator David Pekoske, AFGE President Everett Kelley, and AFGE TSA Council 100 President Hydrick Thomas, were joined by TSA employees in announcing the implementation of the plan a news conference at Virginia’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
“Pay equity is an important milestone but it is not a capstone, and I look forward to continuing to support the entire DHS workforce alongside our partners in Congress and across the Administration,” said DHS Secretary Mayorkas.
Administrator Pekoske said since the pay raise, TSA has seen a fall in attrition, a rise in retention rates, and more interest in open positions. In fact, attrition dropped 61 percent in October 2022 and job applicants rose by 30 percent, a key statistic especially as air travel hits its highest levels since the pandemic.
“I want to be clear that we are not going back to the old pay system. Our ability to recruit and retain a vigilant, professional, and engaged workforce has been significantly improved by the promise of equal pay, which is now a reality,” said Administrator Pekoske.
The highest raises went to more experienced officers who have been with TSA for 20 years. Pekoske says new employees will see a five to ten percent pay bump, but they will move through the system more quickly, allowing them to jump into a higher pay band over five years.
“That gives you automatic career progression,” Administrator Pekoske said. “What we find is once an employee joins TSA, if they spend more than a year with TSA, they’re likely to spend many, many more years after that.”
However, funding is uncertain.
House Republicans stripped out part of the raise from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending bill, leaving the raise intact for 50,000 transportation security officers, but eliminating it for the 13,000 other positions.
The House bill also bars funding for expanded collective bargaining or merit system protection.