A union representing Transportation Security Administration workers calls the Department of Homeland Security's decision to end the collective bargaining agreement with them an “unprovoked attack.”

"Attempting to negate [TSA workers'] legally binding collective bargaining agreement now makes zero sense – it will only reduce morale and hamper the workforce," said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, in a statement on Friday.

DHS said that a “select few poor performers” had been taking advantage of the agreement’s family and sick leave policy. DHS’s press release also claimed that nearly 200 officers, out of TSA’s screening workforce of approximately 47,000, work “full time” on union matters.