FAA EMPLOYEES WARN: BUSH SCHEME GAMBLES AIR

Details: Published: July 18, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – FAA systems specialists, who certify and maintain the equipment essential to the safe functioning of the air traffic control system, will be out in force in August to alert air passengers

that a White House plan to privatize these sensitive functions could be disastrous to the safe passage of the nation’s airlines.

The conference committee report on the FAA reauthorization bill, filed just prior to the congressional August recess, disregards language in the Senate version of the bill and bipartisan efforts aimed at protecting the systems specialist workforce. Instead, the conference committee yielded to White House pressure and opened the door to privatizing the important functions performed by systems specialists.

“The Bush administration forced through a conference report on FAA reauthorization that not only completely disregards the democratic process, but also the safety of the flying public,” says Michael D. Fanfalone, national president of the Professional Airways System Specialists (PASS), the union representing FAA systems specialists. PASS is launching a full-scale campaign in response to the conference committee report. “We are calling on air passengers to urge Congress to send the bill back to conference to protect the systems specialist workforce and, in turn, the entire air traffic control system.”

Efforts to get the bill sent back to conference include educating the public through a series of informational picketing events at airports across the country, including Los Angeles International, Greater Pittsburgh International, Manchester Municipal in New Hampshire, Chicago O’Hare, Cleveland-Hopkins International and Oklahoma City Will Rogers Airport.

“PASS members are proud that they maintain and certify the world’s safest aviation system,” says Fanfalone. “Privatizing the system would trade the public’s safety margin for a corporate profit margin. The safety of this country’s flying public must not be allowed to be sold to the lowest bidder.”

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PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems. For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org.