Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) Local 33, serving Northwest Airlines, today said nearly 300 mechanics in Minneapolis-St. Paul were laid off in 2001, and more than 200 more jobs are now threatened by the airline's plan to transfer skilled maintenance work elsewhere, including to low-cost, privately operated foreign repair stations.
Union officials criticized the airline for continuing to send U.S. aircraft maintenance jobs overseas after September 11, while accepting a reported $500 million in federal relief money. They also questioned whether heightened security regulations enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be rigorously applied to workers at the foreign repair stations, located primarily in Singapore and the People's Republic of China. In December, the FAA mandated fingerprint-based criminal background checks for about one million U.S. employees, including Northwest aircraft mechanics, who work in secure areas of U.S. airports.
``We are always troubled when our members lose their jobs, but our current concerns go far beyond that,'' said AMFA Local 33 legislative liaison Jim Atkinson. ``We don't think it's right for Northwest to accept $500 million of U.S. taxpayers' money while continuing to send skilled American jobs overseas. We also want assurance that the new FAA security regulations will be applied to workers at foreign repair stations who have access to Northwest aircraft. There's no point locking the front door in the U.S. while leaving the back door open overseas.''
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020107/70167_1.html