(The TTD issued the following on July 7.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nearly four months after a congressionally-mandated deadline to take action, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to turn a blind eye to curbing the dangerous practice of U.S. aircraft being repaired in unsafe and uninspected foreign repair facilities, Edward Wytkind, President of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD), said today.
“The Bush administration’s silence and inaction speak volumes. The interests of foreign corporations continue to prevail at the expense of the traveling public. This reckless disregard for the law and aviation safety must end immediately,” Wytkind said.
“The White House has stonewalled every effort that has ever been made to close this dangerous loophole in our aircraft repair laws and now it acts like the law never passed,” Wytkind said, referring to new enhanced safety and security standards required by Congress. By March 12, 2004, the FAA was supposed to submit a plan to ensure that foreign repair stations working on U.S. aircraft are subject to the same level of safety and oversight as required here at home. Congress acted in the wake of the Bush Administration’s rejection of a petition from the AFL-CIO and TTD, on behalf of its mechanic unions, to suspend foreign repair until security audits could be performed. In July 2003 the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a scathing report sharply critical of the weak oversight of aircraft maintenance performed overseas by third-party contractors.
“Our government shows its true colors when it snubs airline safety and security – and the law – in order to not offend foreign business interests. The FAA must immediately issue the new safety plan Congress demanded and hold foreign repair stations to the same standards imposed on U.S. facilities and their employees, including drug and alcohol testing requirements,” Wytkind said.
Wytkind praised Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and William Lipinksi (D-IL) who earlier this week wrote to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to demand immediate federal compliance with the new aviation safety law.
TTD represents 35 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit www.ttd.org