Posted on 07/10/2009 8:27:31 AM PDT by FromLori
Calls to investigate the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are growing after media outlets revealed that immigrants with inadequate certifications may be working on American airplanes. In many cases, according to reports, mechanics who don’t even speak English are replacing qualified American workers.
"We just have to bring them before Congress and ask them what they're doing,” said Texas Rep. Ted Poe of Houston. “I will ask Congressman Oberstar of the Aviation Committee to hold hearings with the FAA regarding this whole situation."
WFAA-TV in Dallas and Fort Worth exposed the problems with an investigation in early July. “Reporters found that aliens are being brought into the country so that they can be paid less than American workers,” the TV station noted on its website. The investigation also charged that the immigrants' experience and credentials may be in question. Quoting insiders, the station claims “the companies that are importing the mechanics are so eager to save money, they’re overstating their qualifications. The result may be a threat to safety, abetted by lax enforcement of immigration law.”
The foreign mechanics working at San Antonio International Airport were mostly here on temporary permits called TN visas, a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) designed to allow licensed professionals to work in other countries. Citing documents obtained from Mexican mechanics, the report found that many were not licensed anywhere, though they may have attended airplane repair school in Mexico. Other workers came from places like the Philippines, Chile, and a variety of other Asian and Latin American countries.
"The more experienced mechanics, we would get paired up with either one or two of these guys,” said a former mechanic with San Antonio Aerospace who was laid off. “They would watch us for a month or so. And that’s how they would get their training.” According to a former administrator, as soon as the American employees were let go, the foreign workers would arrive.
"They’ve employed over 200 since I left,” alleged Jada Williams, a former employee of Aircraft Workers Worldwide. The contracting company provided workers for companies owned by Singapore Technologies (ST) Aerospace, the largest aircraft repair company in the world. "And I know we had over a hundred when I was in there, just in Mobile,” she added, referring to Mobile Aerospace Engineering in Alabama, which like San Antonio Aerospace is controlled by ST Aerospace.
But Chye Kiat Ang, the president of the Singapore-based company, defended the firms’ actions. “They are as good as any American worker,” he said, explaining that between 10 percent and 15 percent of the employees were immigrants. “No one is working in a situation where they are forced to accept a lower wage,” Ang noted, adding that the company had found it difficult to recruit qualified Americans, who are required to be certified by an FAA-approved company.
The foreign workers also defended the companies. One of the Mexicans working at the San Antonio airport explained that mechanics in Mexico learn in English using English manuals. Another, Ruben Ramirez, said, “I can prove my skills with my documents.” The director of quality for San Antonio Aerospace added that the workers were very skilled and professional.
A spokesperson for the FAA, which is in charge of regulating the industry and frequently inspects the San Antonio facility, said the firm is not currently under investigation. But a former employee at the company alleges that before inspectors arrived they were given a one-hour warning. “A lot of guys who were not able to read English, they would hide those guys or send them home for the evening," he said.
Many of the foreign workers apply for Social Security numbers under their visas and stay longer than they are allowed to — sometimes forever. NAFTA has created a myriad of problems and hazards for the United States, and this is simply another example. NAFTA should be abolished so the United States can set its own responsible policies. And if it turns out that unqualified mechanics are really fixing our planes, there should be severe consequences for those responsible.
Given that the mechanics unions seem to be doing their best to drive the airlines into bankruptcy, I have a hard time mustering too much sympathy for the poor American mechanics.
I've worked with three guys who fit that description. How does one get a PhD from an American University when they're unable to speak, read or write?
Possibly they're coupled with an American who actually knows something about the subject and are told “Either you give Aswat co authorship or you're out of the program.” Three of the most inept people I've ever come across, but they're great for "adding diversity".
This does not qualify as a “news” report. More like a bunch of completely unsubstantiated rumors.
Illegals stealing jobs Americans have no access to.
The owners will say “we can’t get Americans to show up.” Yeah because they probably pay minimum wage and sign off on work on planes that is dangerous and substandard. Like all the crappy homes illegals built during the housing boom that are now falling apart.
Ummm....Does not anyone who performs work on ANY aircraft hold an A&P certification (Airframe and Powerplant)?
While there may be something up here, anyone who would allow non-certificated personnel to do anything would go to prison, and any aircraft touched by that person would be grounded for a long time while it was given the once over.
I know a bunch of folks who are certified A&P mechanics. They work hard and sometimes really ridiculous hours ( split shifts, rotating shifts within 7 days, etc). Since airplane safety depends on their qualifications I want the very best ( kind of like my choice in surgeons).
I do not want some third rate, non-English speaking, foreigner coming here to take those jobs ( and yeah lots of folks who were laid off have not been called back because of these foreign workers).
This has happened in nursing as well. So many of the RN positions have been filled with heavily accented and heavily recruited Phillipinos that some hospitals in California are darned hard to understand anything anyone says.
And by the by try handling some of those airplane tires for an evening then tell me about where your sympathy lies (you are probably a desk jockey somewhere)
More like the unions are trying to bleed the airlines dry, doing everything they can to extract rents even as the airlines are on the brink of bankruptcy.
Well then imagine how low the salaries would be and how much money the airlines would save if they didn't bother with any prior training or certification at all but allowed the immigrant to learn on the job from the get-go? I mean how hard can it be, really? And wouldn't that teach the unions?
Bullsh!t.
Paper proves nothing. How you twist wrenches proves everything.
I have no doubt it's hard work. But it seems there are plenty of people willing to do it, so I value it at whatever the market pays for it.
I am indeed sitting at a desk, but the market seems to value what I do (which sometimes involves working for 80 hours a week) more highly, even if you dismiss me as a "desk jockey."
And there's no guarantee that immigrants will be inferior to American workers. The random illegal you hire off the street is probably not particularly qualified, but I've talked to businessmen who find too many American workers--particularly union workers--lazy and entitled, and immigrants generally much harder workers.
Certification either means something or it doesn’t. If being certified is a requirement for these mechanics, then uncertified aircraft mechanics (and their employers) should be prosecuted in an appropriate manner.
If certification is not a requirement, then the complaining mechanics are off base.
JMO, of course.
Completely non-responsive.
Prior training and certification are important elements of quality control. The unions’ primary concern isn’t quality control, it’s extracting economic rents from employers. And that’s never a good thing for airlines, passengers, or the economy.
And according to the story many, perhaps most, aren't trained or certified - not in the U.S. or anywhere. So in your view it's OK to use them as labor rather than the trained, certified, and experienced U.S. counterpart for economic reasons alone?
Certification is only good if the paperwork is real and true. Otherwise, it means nothing at all. If Jose has paperwork showing he’s a certified jet engine mechanic, but he doesn’t know how to run safety-wire in a tightening direction - how valid is that paperwork?
If the paperwork is false, then the fake mechanic and his employers should be looking at jail time.
if they are that unqualified then it’s just a matter of time before the injuries start piling up. Working on a jet is dangerous. All it tales is a pin hole thru a fluid line. The pressure spits out a stream of sludge hard enough to go thru your skin like a bullet.......then it travels thru your body from there.
This wasn’t a news story, it was a bunch of unsubstantiated rumors.
At worst, I got the impression a few of the immigrants might have sub-par credentials, which is a problem. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of well trained immigrants who are happy to work without trying to extract rents through a union.
I am glad you have talked to “American businessmen”...no doubt they are the very ones using these illterate ( yes illeterate because they can’t speak or read English and the manuals and NOTAMS and all other FAA notcies and heads up are in ENGLISH).
Just as Phillipino ‘nurses’ and most foreign doctors are not qualified ( and are under trained and shouldn’t be allowed to even sit for boards here) and really provide lousy care and dangerous care.
Those “plenty of people willing” have also built crappy house that are falling off the foundations and the walls are crumbling.
And ooooh boy 80 hours a week ( either an attorney or maybe a stock broker) as if other folks don’t work that hard ( and harder) too. You provide no service and no value for the market but no doubt you have “helped” us all by being so very market driven
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