WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) delivered the following speech today on the floor of the United States Senate:

"Mr. President, I rise today to speak against the amendment offered by my colleague, Senator DeMint, and in support of employee protections for Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

"It is only fair to give TSOs the same rights and protections as other employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"The provision in S. 4 would allow the President to put TSOs in the same personnel system that President Bush argued was needed for homeland security employees in 2002, in order to put the right people in the right jobs at the right pay - to hold employees accountable - and to reorganize and quickly shift resources to meet new terrorist threats.

"Although DHS was authorized to waive certain provisions of "title 5" related to pay, labor relations, and employee appeals, in order to protect the U.S. from terrorists attacks, other employee rights and protections remained: veterans preference, collective bargaining, and full whistleblower rights with appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

"It is wrong to deny these basic rights and protections to TSOs - who work for DHS.

"Because TSOs lack employee protections, they have one of the largest attrition rates, one of the highest workers compensation claims, and one of the lowest levels of morale among federal employees.

"I recognize the efforts by TSA to address these issues, but I firmly believe that the gains made by those efforts are only temporary if employees continually feel threatened by retaliatory action or that they cannot bring their concerns to management.

"National security is jeopardized if agencies charged with protecting our nation continually lose trained and talented employees due to workplace injuries and a lack of employee protections - including protection against retaliation for blowing the whistle on security breaches.

"Moreover, the whole point of creating DHS was to consolidate 22 agencies into one entity in order to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. By denying TSOs the same rights provided to other DHS employees, we are reinforcing the very stovepipes we sought to tear down with the Homeland Security Act," Akaka said.

An audio MP3 file of Senator Akaka's speech is available at this Internet address:

http://demradio.senate.gov/actualities/akaka/akaka070301_floor_statement_2.mp3

The speech was carried live on CSPAN2.

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