FAA Inspectors Union Applauds Foreign Repair Station Bill

"Remember, for evil to triumph, good men need only to be silent." - Bill Hohlfeld, Local 46 Metallic Lathers & Reinforcing Ironworkers, Labor Management Cooperative Trust

If you write about it, they will read it and eventually, just maybe, something will be done. Many people do not understand the power that is the internet Blogger, this site and many of my fellow labor bloggers sites are actively being read by Senate, Congress, the news media, the FAA, OSHA, as a matter of fact I have noticed quite a few corporations reading stories about their misdeeds. This is power.

The power to change the world.

One of the more recent stories floating around this and other labor sites is the absence of standards for mechanics in countries where aircrafts from American companies are now outsourcing maintenance to, heres 2 recent entries:

• American Airlines, from 911 bailouts, customer rights law overturn, outsourcing, lax FAA enforcement, the Allied Pilots Association and the Teamster
• Southwest Airlines outsources maintenance and puts customers at risk

Mind you I am in no way trying to take much credit for this, as I know the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, The Teamster and both the CTW and AFL-CIO have been spreading the news about this also, but it's nice to see a Newswire which shows bipartisan support for something in which you, and you fellow labor bloggers, took the time to make others aware of.

With much respect to Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) for introducing legislation that all Americans can agree upon, heres the Press Release (excerpted) from PRNewswire (6/5/08):

    Bipartisan Senate Bill Calls for Increased FAA Oversight of Foreign
Repair Stations

  WASHINGTON, June 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senators Claire McCaskill
(D-Mo.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today introduced the Safe Aviation
Facilities Ensure Aircraft Integrity and Reliability Act of 2008 calling
for more strict oversight of foreign repair stations, and the Professional
Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), AFL-CIO, the union that represents more
than 11,000 FAA employees, including aviation safety inspectors, are
commending the action. PASS National President Tom Brantley released the
following statement regarding the bill:

  "In light of recent failures of FAA management in addressing
inspector's repeated safety concerns in this country, it is clear that the
FAA must be more vigilant in how it oversees the industry. The
McCaskill-Specter SAFE AIR Act takes aggressive action by ensuring that all
major air carrier maintenance work only be performed by certificated repair
stations, that foreign certificated repair stations are inspected at least
twice a year by an FAA inspector, and that all workers working on U.S.
aircraft at foreign repair facilities be drug and alcohol tested. If a
foreign repair facility wants to work on U.S.-registered aircraft or any
aircraft that operates in this country, meeting the same safety standards
as domestic repair stations should be non-negotiable.

  ''U.S. air carriers are increasingly relying upon overseas repair
facilities to perform critical maintenance work on its aircraft, and yet,
many of these facilities are not subject to the same level of oversight,
scrutiny and inspections as domestic repair stations. With airlines taking
tremendous cost-cutting steps to reduce overhead and operating expenses,
now is the time for the FAA to increase its oversight of airline
maintenance, especially oversees.

I'm sure it's not a done deal, but it's a start in the right direction, I personally feel that the American based airlines which sucked our tax money for a bailout after 9/11 and are now sucking our citizens eyes out, shouldn't be allowed to use workers from other nations, but thats just one mans opinion, or is it?