http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1002/101403c1.htm

The Transportation Security Administration should provide airport managers with guidance on using private screeners as soon as possible so they can begin planning before a federal deadline next year, an airport industry representative said Tuesday.

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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.

"However, legislators included a provision that permits airports to opt out of the federal program and hire private screeners starting in November 2004."

I hope that this 1)comes sooner than Nov 2004 and 2)includes privatizing security management at airports. I've encountered several FSDs at airports, including SDF, who are real scumbags, just as their boss Admiral Loy is.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

No, the Screening managers and above will still be retained as TSA employees to ensure that TSA directives are followed. This is not going to be a huge change. The screeners uniforms will change as well as the signature on their paychecks, but that is the ONLY difference you will see. The procedures will remain the same and there will be the same amount of *****ing here as always.

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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.

Whew! I was worried for a second that there might be something productive coming out of this.

No, I have said ad neaseum that the TSA is here to stay. It is not going anywhere now that the empire has been built. You complain about the screeners and revile them with your hatred, but they will still be there doing the same job, just in a different shirt. The training (yes, there was some even though it was a complete facade) will be the same, the cost to the taxpayer/passenger will be the same because the gov't is paying the contract. So even though they are preparing for going "private" someday, that is only going to affect the individual screeners.

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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.

Brown shirt, black shirt, what's the difference?

Congress created this cluster@#$%. Hopefully with enough pressure they can rescind it too.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

My beef has never been with the screeners (and I am on record here many a time saying I like the new TSA screeners better than the old Argenbrite [sic] screeners).

My beef is with the policies being generated and handed down to the screeners.

From what you are saying, UnknownScreener, it appears that while the uniforms will be changing, the policies those uniforms are enforcing will not be. Nor will the people drafting those policies.

If that truly is the case, then it's another 600 or so letters expressing my displeasure with the policies and those who draft them (but not those who enforce them).

Thats exactly what is going to happen. They will revert to private security companies, who will retain the current screeners as they are in place and trained to TSA standards. The screening managers and above will remain at each airport to ensure that TSA policies are being followed. Those will be the only TSA employees at each airport.

This should not surprise anyone as this is exactly what the Republicans wanted to do right after 9/11. Increased federal oversight of existing screeners. Of course the contracts will be awarded and paid for by the TSA so costs will more than likely go up instead of down since the contractor now has to make a profit, that profit coming from the taxpayer. Screener pay will remain the same and benefits will be similar. This will be done to prevent screeners abandoning their positions leaving airports without screeners thus bringing the airlines down with them. Hopefully they will do better by the current screeners than they did by the previous ones. They were lied to and promised bonuses to stay on the job until the TSA was in place. Then they were not paid the bonuses in many cases.

Pandoras box has been opened and cannot be closed again....

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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.



[This message has been edited by The Unknown Screener (edited 10-16-2003).]

We can only hope that perhaps the private firms will be more open to litigation than the TSA.

Highly doubtful as they are being directed by gov't policy. What would you sue them for anyway?



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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.

Private firms, government. Does not matter much since the "rules" and "policies" are set far from the front line. As mentioned by so many, the actual screeners are rearely the problem, but the whole process is is question.

The only GOOD thing about private screeners, it is easier, oops, make it "less difficult" to fire, eliminate or reduce jobs in the private sector than gov't employees.

Thats true, but with the gov't writing the contracts, it will be the TSA that determines the manning levels. I seriously doubt you will see fewer screeners manning the checkpoints.



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Don't take life too seriously, afterall, you won't get out alive.

Something has to give. If the TSA simultaneously demands specific procedures, staffing levels and pay, then what would be the point of the private firm?

I'll grant you that this is government we're talking about, so I shouldn't be surprised if that's true, but I'm hoping that the private firms can improve upon at least one of those three.

That is, if you demand certain procedures and pay levels, you can adjust the staffing to meet demand. As it stands now, labor is wasted when the airport isn't busy, and labor is in short supply when the airport is busy.

The airlines seemed to have figured out how to use labor more efficiently. Go to a small airport 10 minutes after a flight has left, and see if there are three employees at the ticket counter hoopin' it up. Not only are there not three, there's ZERO.

They come back later, before the next flight goes out, because they don't need to be at the ticket counter 10 minutes after the flight departed.

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"Yippie-kay-yay, Mr. Falcon!" -- John McClane, Die Hard II As Seen on TV