It depends largely on how bad the working conditions are. If it's as bad as many of the officers I have spoken with say it is, the improvement in morale and a feeling of control over working conditions could greatly improve our experience as passengers. Having been a union worker for 21 years, I feel much better about my job knowing it is there, and do better work because of it.

I would be willing to bet that one of the first things a TSA union would do is try to get rid of or severely curtail the enhanced pat-downs as they exist now. That doesn't mean they'll succeed in doing it, of course. It's demeaning to the customers and the workers, and no union will stand for that without a fight. I would imagine they would fight for a full investigation into the safety of the nude-o-scopes, determine which ones if any are safe, and use those -- at least two at each implementation site, one for males, one for females, with a same-sex officer on the scanners. That would be typical union tactics.

SR