The new security
umbrella that is unfurling over US airports is under
the direct control of the federal government which
has taken back aviation security from private companies
following revelations of rampant violations and mismanagement
during investigations into the September 11 attacks.
The nation's first fully federalised team of security
screeners began taking over screening at airports
on April 30. Officials promise they are better trained,
better motivated and kinder – complaints of
racial profiling and harassment have swelled in the
tense security climate at airports -- than those employed
by private contractors who under-paid and exploited
their workers while reaping huge profits. Previously
private airlines and airport operators were responsible
for safety, resulting in a tangled system in which
industry kept down costs of complying with federal
rules while government regulators, sympathetic to
industry's problems, did not always insist on levels
of security adopted in some countries.
An estimated 30,000 airport staff, employees of the
newly created Transportation Security Administration,
will take over the 429 airports around the United
States by November 18, the deadline set by Congress
for the government to perform almost all airport security
duties. The Transportation Department and the Office
of Management and Budget have asked for $4.4 billion
for airport security in the supplemental appropriations
bill. A decision is to be taken later in May.
Officials expect about 40 percent of the federal screeners
to be new hires; the rest will be retrained former
employees of the contractors that the airlines have
used for decades.
Selected candidates will be put through a 40-hour
training course at a training center in Oaklahoma
City followed by 60 hours on-the-job training and
then rotated through several airports around the nation
before returning to airports in their home cities,
as supervisors Because of that professionalism, travellers
will "be and feel safe and secure," federal
officials said.
This sharply contrasts with the previous situation
where airport security was farmed out to the lowest
bidder who even resorted to hiring illegal workers,
forcing 10-hour shifts and withholding welfare benefits.
Federal prosecutors have arrested 356 people working
at airports since September 11 on charges of supplying
false information to obtain security badges or jobs.
The arrested employees were working as screeners,
janitors, food service workers, baggage handlers,
construction workers and aircraft fuelers, among other
jobs. The government said last month that it has decided
to eliminate from the airports within two weeks one
of the biggest security agencies, Argenbright Security
Inc., because of a long record of problems that have
come to light in the past few months, including employing
felons.
Pay for the federal screeners begin at $22,500 and
rises to $40,000 or a bit more, depending on experience
and cost of living where the screener will work. In
some cases that is not much more than contractor employees
are paid now, although it is higher than what they
got before September 11. Further, the new jobs are
attractive for in addition to pay there are health
benefits, job security and the opportunity for advancement.
Heavy turnover, sometimes more than 100 percent in
the course of a year, has been blamed by experts for
the low competency levels among airport security staff
hired by private contractors.
An article in the New York Times (Nov 22, 2001) profiled
a typical, unnamed airport screener. She was 19 years
old, still living with her mother, and paid $9.24
for her job at Los Angeles International Airport,
one of only few airports in the country with unionised
airport personnel. Her days, which began at 2.30 p.m.
and ended at 11.00 p.m., were filled with frustrations.
She described a work environment where employees feuded
with their supervisors, rules were enforced strictly
when inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration
were present, and confusion about basic procedures
– such as when a passenger should be asked to
remove a belt or jewelry – was common.
Many of these workers may be rehired as better-compensated
and trained federal employees. However, many others,
especially immigrants without US citizenship stand
automatically disqualified under the Airport Security
Industry Support Bill approved by Congress. The New
York Times commented in an editorial on April 1 (“Improving
Aviation Security”) that while public confidence
in the nation's aviation system is now rebounding,
federal authorities have a staggering amount of work
to consolidate control over airport security.
May 10, 2002.
[Source: New York Times, American
Prospect, World Socialist Web Site]
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