Posted on 06/03/2007 8:56:55 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Call to suspend flights to U.S. after guards are filmed sleeping on the job
By MARTIN DELAGO
Last updated at 12:41pm on 3rd June 2007
A leading American Congressman has called for flights from one of Britain's biggest airports to New York to be suspended - after guards who should have been checking suitcases for bombs and guns were filmed sleeping or reading newspapers.
Bennie G. Thompson - chairman of the Congress Homeland Security Committee - made the demand after watching secret TV footage from a six-month undercover investigation at Birmingham airport.
He said: "If what I saw is the rule of how passenger security is conducted...the flights should be stopped until we get better trained personnel to do the job required to guarantee the safety of passengers."
Security at the airport is under investigation after the lapses, which include inadequate passenger searches and falsification of paperwork by officials.
There are also claims that planes were left unguarded on the ground and that security personnel were not told about new checking procedures.
One worker is heard boasting about getting a job with an airport security company - despite having a criminal record with convictions for grievous bodily harm and drink-driving.
Female passengers are said to have been allowed to board planes without being frisked because of a shortage of female security officers.
The footage is to be shown in tomorrow's edition of Tonight With Trevor McDonald on ITV1.
Staff responsible for examining X-rays of luggage are seen reading and doing puzzles instead of watching computer screens.
At one point, a female security agent is seen flicking through a newspaper, apparently ignoring an X-ray image of a suitcase passing across the screen in front of her.
A male security supervisor is shown sleeping on a seat near the departure lounge when he should have been carrying out checks on a Continental Airlines flight about to take off for New York.
A conversation between two baggage-checkers has one saying laughingly to a colleague who has failed to look at her screen: "You should have been concentrating."
Colleague: "I was bloody miles away."
First checker: "You're giving our bad habits away here. We don't care now anyway."
A security worker guarding a plane is filmed standing 50 yards from the ramp, talking to a colleague, with his back to the aircraft.
Aviation security expert Chris Yates said: "He is supposed to ensure those in close contact with the aircraft have proper authorisation. Anybody could have interfered with that plane."
Security duties are divided between the airport's own staff and private firms, including ICTS UK, which has 2,000 employees in Britain and Ireland.
Most of the allegations concern workers from ICTS.
In a statement to ITV, the firm said: "We immediately initiated a full investigation.
"Our investigation will continue and reports will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities."
An airport spokesman said: "The allegations relate solely to ICTS.
"We are confident that the actions already taken continue to assure the safety and security of passengers.
"ICTS has highlighted concerns that the material in the programme may have been contrived to exaggerate and sensationalise the issues."
But a spokesman for the programme said: "Our investigation exposes serious security lapses by some ICTS staff which raise concerns of important public interest regarding passenger safety.
"We stand by the integrity of our evidence which speaks for itself.
"This evidence was gathered over a six-month period by a long-standing ICTS employee and by one of our own investigators.
"We researched security procedures thoroughly and this is reflected in the programme."
Continental Airlines said: "The safety and security of our customers and employees is our No1 priority and we would never operate a flight unless we were convinced it was safe."
Yes, there is.
See, the thing is, a non-union worker would be fired. Not always the case with union workers.
We have somewhere north of 400 employees in Slough. When we decided to consolidate some functions in the US, we had to file a notice of intent 6 months ahead of time. We also had a number of problem employees that took over a year to fire for bad performance.
Exactly - better training won’t make any difference.
lol
My hubby and children have gotten a big laugh out of this today. Really. Thanks!
It’s good to know that you were referring to the Birmingham in Mississippi. ROFLOL
Yes, the one that doesn’t exist. You did say that, didn’t you?
I’m a union member and I do my best to give my employers the work that they expect and what they are paying me to do. I see the same attitude in the men and women I work with.
Sometimes, through no fault of mine, or anyone else’s, there is nothing for me to do. I look for things to keep busy. I’m not always successful at finding them. I may nod off, especially when I’m on a twelve hour night shift.
If you haven’t had that experience, then you’re not qualified to judge me.
I’m still laughing about this story. We all know that you were talking about the Birmingham in Alabama. You didn’t know of a Birmingham, MS, until someone pointed it out. lol
The one in MS is but a spot on the map. Big time.
I Didn't say a word about you pal. I did cite my experience.
Reread the posts hon. Slowly if it helps.
I can attest to the fact that the above is a true statement. My hubby works at NGSS in Pascagoula. He has told me SEVERAL times of this.
You made a blanket statement disparaging American labor union workers. As a union member, your statement concerns me.
You saw some union workers in a shipyard sleeping on the job. If you want to criticize them, fine, but I hope you realize that if sleeping was the only thing union workers accomplished, that shipyard would not be building US NAVY warships. And Boeing would not be the world leader in commercial aircraft construction. And Caterpillar would not hold the position it has in construction equipment.
The pictures which accompanied the article appear to offer proof that the airport security personnel were guilty of a great “sin”. But were they? The woman with the newspaper on her lap may have just been ending a period of time when there were no items for her to scan. The gate guard may have been stationed at an out-of-service gate. The security manager may have been taking a break while traffic was slow or while someone else was standing in for him.
The fact is, we have no idea what motivated those who took the photos, and what the true situation is.
However, of one thing we can be sure: The US Congress can be trusted to ferret out the truth and make sure that the innocent are punished.
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