Federal employees rallied at Charleston International Airport this week to oppose a proposal that would shift airport security screening duties to a private contractor, even after airport officials said the plan had been called off. Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, including the union’s Local 555 chapter, held a demonstration protesting the Transportation Security Administration’s Screening Partnership Program, commonly referred to internally as TSA Gold Plus.
The program would allow participating airports to use private contractors to handle passenger screening under federal oversight, rather than relying solely on TSA’s own workforce. Union representatives said the plan was first floated broadly across several airports earlier this year, with Charleston named alongside Tampa and Des Moines as one of the sites where the agency intended to launch the shift. National union leadership has previously argued that turning screening functions and equipment over to contractors marks a significant departure from how the agency has operated since it was created in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
AFGE Local 555 president Devin Rayford led Wednesday’s demonstration, which fell as the country marked 25 years since the attacks that led to TSA’s founding. Union representative Jason Armstrong said members take pride in the agency’s role safeguarding air travel and argued that handing screening over to private contractors raises questions about whether those companies can match the training and experience of federal officers. Union officials said their central concerns center on how privatization could affect employees’ federal benefits, pay scales and long-term job security.
Charleston International Airport has since said the Gold Plus proposal is no longer moving forward, and airport officials have indicated that any employees who wished to transfer to a private contractor would receive comparable pay and benefits. Even so, union members said they remain skeptical and plan to keep pressing the issue, telling organizers they intend to raise the matter again at an upcoming public board meeting. TSA has not issued additional public comment on the status of the program at Charleston’s airport since the announcement.
