(The TTD distributed the following news release on February 27.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. –- Citing potential threats to safety and security and lax government oversight, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) today renewed its call that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) immediately shut down the repair of U.S. aircraft at all foreign maintenance facilities that cannot ensure the safety and security of the work they perform. TTD called for foreign repair stations to meet the same standards for training, drug and alcohol testing, criminal background checks, and inspections that are required here in the U.S.
TTD President Ed Wytkind made the request in testimony before a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) hearing on the issue. “Our government must step in and protect the flying public by closing loopholes on foreign aircraft repair. Despite giving these facilities licenses to work on U.S. aircraft, we lack both the resources and the federal commitment needed to ensure the safety and security of these repair stations and their work,” Wytkind said.
“We can’t allow airline CEOs to choose profits over safety,” Wytkind said, noting that industry financial pressures, “make it too tempting for cash-strapped airlines to slash costs and cut corners ” by sending planes used on domestic routes overseas for their repair work. A July 2003 report by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation was sharply critical of both the growing practice of foreign repair and the FAA’s ability to adequately oversee it. In his testimony, Wytkind called for an increase in the FAA inspector workforce.
“The TSA has a responsibility to protect the flying public from this dangerous contest being played by airline CEOs to see who can sell-off more mechanics’ jobs to potentially unsafe places. This game must end,” Wytkind said.
The Bush Administration denied an April 2003 petition filed by the AFL-CIO on behalf of its mechanics unions – the Transport Workers Union, the International Association of Machinists, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – to suspend foreign repair of U.S. aircraft until safety and security could be ensured. Because of White House inaction, Congress has since stepped in and ordered the TSA to develop regulations on the issue.
Wytkind expressed concerns about the TSA’s management of this issue, noting that the February 27 hearing was not posted in the Federal Register until February 24. Wytkind said industry groups – who have long stonewalled meaningful new regulations in this area – were given advance notice of the announcement, a courtesy not extended to airline mechanics and their unions, who Wytkind commented, “are apparently not on this government’s preferred customer list.”
TTD represents 35 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit www.ttd.org