All 18 Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have asked Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator David Pekoske to continue to allow the agency's employees the right to collectively bargain.

“We urge you to continue allowing collective bargaining at TSA,” they said in a letter dated Thursday. They also asked that he meet with the committee on this issue no later than May 17.

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They argued that collective bargaining is important for employee retention.

"Given TSA’s workforce retention challenges, we were surprised and concerned by your refusal to commit at the hearing to continuing to allow collective bargaining past December 2019," the members of Congress wrote, referencing Pekoske's Tuesday testimony.

"Collective bargaining provides an important avenue to addressing systemic workforce issues like those identified by the [Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General] and employee surveys. Continuing to allow collective bargaining is critical to improving retention," the lawmakers wrote.

TSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pekoske said Tuesday that he was not sure whether TSA would continue to allow its employees to collectively bargain.

“I have not made a decision yet on whether or not we will continue collective bargaining past the expiration in December 2019," he said at a budget hearing.

Updated at 2:02 p.m.