STATEMENT BY TOM BRANTLEY, PASS NATIONAL PRESIDENT, AT NEWS CONFERENCE ON FEDERAL AIRPORT SCREENERS HOSTED BY AFGE
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- Published: July 18, 2013
On October 27, PASS President Tom Brantley joined the American Federation of Government Employees and representatives of labor unions for airline pilots, flight attendants and customer service agents at a news conference to demand that airport security continue to be handled by federal employees. Brantley made the following statement:
Hello, my name is Tom Brantley and I am National President of PASS, the Professional Airways Systems Specialists. PASS represents over 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, including systems specialists, technicians, aviation safety inspectors and support staff. Our members are an essential part of the complex network of people and equipment that ensure the safety and efficiency of our nation’s aviation system.
It is hard to believe that it has only been a year since TSA officially took over the responsibility of screening passengers and their luggage at most airports throughout the United States. Frankly, it was long overdue. Federal airport screeners play a critical role in ensuring the safety of our nation’s air travelers. Transparency and consistent standards are both qualities critical to ensuring the safety and security of the flying public. Those qualities only exist with a federal workforce that is free from cronyism and the corporate drive for profit. The move to federalize this workforce acknowledges the vital role the federal government plays in ensuring the safety of its citizens. We cannot gamble with the safety of air travelers – the events of September 11 made that lesson all too clear.
Given the events of that notorious day, and the consequential federalization of airport screeners across the country, the potential for airports to begin opting out of using federal screeners next year is an extremely dangerous proposition that should not be tolerated. To even consider employing this “mix-and-match” airport screening system threatens the safety of the flying public. In fact, this approach to safety oversight has had terrible consequences in the past.
For example, soon after September 11, PASS learned that a Saudi citizen believed to have flown a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon obtained three U.S. Airmen certificates without ever being examined by an FAA inspector. Instead, private individuals authorized by the FAA to conduct pilot certifications allowed him to train in jet passenger aircraft at an Arizona flight school and, despite having what instructors later described as limited flying skills and an even more limited command of the English language, issued his U.S. Airmen certificates. The future actions of this individual after obtaining these certificates illustrate again the danger in gambling with the safety of the flying public.
And yet, just as they are considering changing the federal status of airport screeners, the administration is now attempting to privatize the highly trained technicians responsible for maintaining and certifying the systems and equipment that make up our air traffic control system. Our nation’s air traffic control system is the most complex system in the world and despite the systems specialists’ excellent safety and efficiency records, the administration continues to insist that for-profit companies be allowed to take over their role in the air traffic control system. Have the lessons of September 11 been so soon forgotten?
It is no less important for the federal government to ensure the safety and integrity of the systems and equipment that guide our planes across the nation than it is to be responsible for the screening of passengers and their luggage. It is time for Congress and the administration to invest in the safety and security of the American people and stop pushing for corporate handouts at taxpayer’s expense.
I once heard an “ideologue” defined as a person with a solution in search of a problem. I think that definition is very appropriate when describing the administration’s push to privatize more and more of the federal workforce. The threats to our aviation safety system are still very real—and they are not going away. We cannot gamble with the safety of the flying public simply to realize a corporate profit.
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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.