AFGE received a message from the Partnership Office Friday afternoon saying they are still looking into the issues we’ve already raised about local enforcement problems regarding shoes and boots. AFGE wrote back with a new report out of DFW and urged the Partnership Office to take action.
Here’s an excerpt from AFGE General Counsel David Borer’s letter to the Partnership Office:
“Unfortunately, your managers in the field continue to run wild with this issue. Or, more accurately, SOME of your managers. Here’s the latest from DFW:
- There are seven DFW BDO Managers and only one manager is harassing the BDO employees about their shoes.
- One BDO paid two hundred dollars for his boots, which comply with the letter of TSA policy, but he cannot wear them. According to the manager, the mesh on the boots is an “adornment.”
- Another BDO purchased shoes that had Velcro at the top of the shoe’s tongue. The Manager would not allow the employee to wear these shoes because the manger claims the Velcro is an “adornment.”
- The Manager is suggesting/requiring that the employees take a photograph of the shoes and obtain prior approval from the manager that the shoes are in compliance before the employees make a purchase.
I would suggest you might want to issue dictionaries to all these managers. The word “adornment” means a “decoration or ornament.” Common sense says that would include things like the little bells and pom-poms that cheerleaders wear on their shoes. But, mesh in the side panel of a boot is not an adornment. First, it serves a functional purpose, which makes it the opposite of an adornment. Second, it’s integral to the boot itself, not a mere decoration or ornament hanging on the boot. Likewise, Velcro is a functional part of the tongue of the other boot, not a decoration or ornament. Velcro is, by its nature, functional, not an adornment. The only instance I can think of where Velcro was used as an adornment was the time David Letterman put on a suit covered in Velcro and then catapulted himself off a trampoline, landing stuck against a wall of Velcro. Even that had some functional purpose, albeit in a comedy setting.
There’s nothing funny about this unnecessary, and expensive, harassment of TSA officers over imagined violations of policy when their shoes and boots comply with the letter of that policy. I can only assume that the managers who are obsessive in enforcing these locally-invented or self-imagined rules either have too much free time, or they are neglecting other, far more important duties.
A memo from Headquarters instructing local management to back off, and accepting some of these variations as falling within existing policy guidelines, would be a welcome gesture of goodwill. It would also relieve the officers of a lot of unneeded stress and expense. A memo directing the manager in DFW not to require employees to send in photographs from the shoe store before making a purchase, would also send an important message that local management should refrain from completely losing perspective so as not to embarrass the whole agency with such nonsense. We view this as an easy opportunity for collaboration.”
David A. Borer
General Counsel
American Federation of Government Employees
———————————–
So, here’s how you can help. Please let us know if you’re having problems at your airport; send us the specifics. And, if you have had shoes or boots ruled to be in violation of policy but which you think were in compliance, send us a photograph so we can take it up with management. We’ll let you know if management decides to stop wasting our time and your money on this.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 12 Comments »
