CHICAGO — As airports such as O'Hare and Midway continue to experience massive lines of angry travelers waiting to get through security, the TSA workers are venting, too.
"We officers on the front lines are doing the best we can with what we are given. While verbally abused and disrespected on a daily basis, we continue to believe in the mission and have our hearts in the right place. If given the chance would you walk a day in our shoes?" one posted on a Facebook page frequented by TSA employees.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About AWFUL Security Lines at O'Hare and Midway
Another, who said she spent nine years working for TSA at O'Hare, wrote that "abuse from the passengers was a daily given."
"We didn't enjoy having to disrupt your life. We just wanted you to be able to continue living it," she said.
Added another: "Everyone in this day and age wants instant gratification and if there is a bump in their plans we take the brunt. It's not about wait times it's about keeping air travel safe."
"You never hear of all the dangerous items we find (loaded guns, smoke grenades, knives, dangerous chemicals... The list goes on.)" the poster said.
Crain's Chicago Business reported that at O'Hare there were 1,932 full and part time TSA staffers last year; that's down from 2,045 two years ago, even as the number of passengers has grown by 15 percent. At Midway, TSA had 471 employees last year, fewer than in 2013 and 2014. Use has grown there, too.
Nationally, the Transportation Security Administration currently has about 42,000 officers on the job, down from 47,000 in 2013. At the same time, the volume of passengers has risen 15 percent, from 643 million to 740 million, according to the officer's union.
Congress has agreed to use $34 million to hire 800 more TSA officers and pay for overtime for this summer. But the The American Federation of Government Employees says the nation's airport security system needs 6,000 more screeners.
The officers, with salaries that range from $31,500 to $45,000 plus overtime, are "overworked," the union says.
Some TSA officers blame management. Also, expectations by passengers are often too high, some said, with passengers arriving too closely to their takeoff times.
"It's kind of funny how people will bitch about the line in security — then go right to the line at Starbucks right after security," said one.
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