Washington, D.C.
The flying public and airline workers are watching with disbelief the current debate in Congress over airport and airline security. At a time when the air transportation industry and its workers—including 140,000 who are laid-off—are reeling from the economic aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, some in Congress have decided to play politics with airline security.
The aviation industry is crucial to our overall economic well-being. To survive, airlines need people to fly again. But that will only happen when public confidence in airline security and safety is restored. Unless this happens soon, key sectors of the economy beyond aviation will be threatened as we are already witnessing at Boeing and other suppliers, in airports and throughout the hotel and travel industry.
It is especially disturbing that last week a majority in the House tolerated the actions of their Republican Leaders who chose to use the debate over airline security to demonize the federal government and its workers. The inability of these leaders to overcome their own anti-government bias unnecessarily delayed action on must-pass aviation security legislation. House Majority Leader Dick Armey even went so far as to say that professionalizing the airport security workforce as required by the bipartisan Senate bill was an attempt to swell the ranks of unions, thereby creating "30,000 new dues paying members" as a campaign financing instrument for Democrats. This inflamed rhetoric has converted a debate over the security of the flying public into a matter of pure partisan politics.
The breaches in airport security are well publicized, most recently with the shocking account of a passenger in Chicago last week who breezed past security with knives, mace and a stun gun concealed in his carry-on bag. Clearly the current airline-operated security regime has failed the nation's air passengers and employees and it is time for dramatic change.
The holes in our airport security system are well-documented and, while they pre-date the September 11 tragedies, have taken on far more significance as the safety of air travel has inspired a public outcry for action. Limits on carry-on bags must be strictly enforced. Checked bags must pass a rigid security screening and meet a 100 percent match with passenger manifests. Cockpit doors must be fortified. Aircraft crew and ground employees must be better trained to deal with the new threats posed by hijackers and the growing fear of bio-terrorism. Access to aircraft and secure areas in airports and air traffic control facilities must be closely guarded. Contractors, including caterers with access to aircraft and airports, must be more carefully scrutinized and standards are needed to ensure their workers are properly trained and paid a living wage. All cargo carried in the belly of aircraft must also be carefully screened as it poses the same security risks as carry-on and checked passenger baggage. All standards applied to passenger carriers must be equally applicable to cargo air carriers. And longtime airline employees should not become scapegoats with overreaching criminal background check mandates that ignore the valuable role that existing workers play as essential links in the security chain.
The screener workforce has drawn the most attention during Congress’ airport security debate. The current security employees—hired by the bottom-line driven airlines—earn barely above minimum wage. Pre-hire background checks are poorly done or non-existent. The employees receive little or no training. To make matters worse, almost all attempts by airport security workers to unionize as a way to raise labor standards have been thwarted by the airlines and, as a result, the turnover rate among these workers has been reported as high as 400 percent. Obviously, it is time for a change. While various approaches would be improvements over the present situation, the best way to raise the standards of airport security workers is to transform them, as called for in the Senate legislation, into federal workers who fall under federal authority and control.
At the same time, we must not scapegoat the screeners themselves or denigrate them for their immigration status or lack of training. They are hard working people who deserve the same respect and opportunity as everyone else. As part of the transition to a federal workforce, current screeners who are qualified or qualifiable should be offered the new security positions, as should the laid-off airline industry workers who can meet the requirements.
While there are shortcomings in both the Senate and House airline security bills that we will insist be corrected in the House-Senate conference committee, the AFL-CIO calls on the conferees to federalize the airport security workforce and make the security employees a part of the federal workforce. We also call on Congress to provide these new employees with the appropriate Title 5 rights such as federal sector health care and pension coverage, whistleblower protections and collective bargaining rights.