Posted on 11/10/2010 7:26:37 AM PST by rawhide
A flight attendants union with 2,000 members is upset over what it calls "invasive pat-downs" recently implemented by the TSA.
"We're getting calls daily about peoples' experiences, our members are concerned," said Deborah Volpe, Vice President of the Association of Flight Attendants Local 66.
Volpe confirmed that the union is offering advice to its flight attendants, who mostly work for Tempe-based USAirways, involving the security moves.
According to a union email obtained by ABC15, it tells flight attendants if they opt out of using the body scanner through security and are required to undergo a pat-down to ask the pat-down be conducted in a private area with a witness.
"We don't want them in uniform going through this enhanced screening where their private areas are being touched in public," said Volpe. "They actually make contact with the genital area."
Some passengers have told ABC15 they've already encountered flight delays due to crew members having problems with TSA employees.
"It (delay) was over three hours when they finally found a crew member to take her place," said Les Johnson who says his Charlotte bound flight was delayed. "She (flight attendant) felt that she was groped and supposedly filed a claim."
"They've already contacted the ACLU," said Volpe when referring to some members of the union. "We don't know if somebody may have had an experience with a sexual assault and its (pat-down) going to drudge up some bad memories."
Volpe made it clear the union is not against security.
"Security is the most important aspect, our offices were used as murder weapons," said Volpe. "Keep in mind we undergo extensive background checks and we fly quite often."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc15.com ...
Personally I'd get rid of most, if not all, of that garbage. Life is a risk, live free or die...and if I have to die while living free...so be it. I'd rather die with dignity and freedom...than be shaken down by a government trained Gestapo.
This is not America...
What are sheeple willing to give up next?
....I'm sure evil Soros types are wondering also.
It’s hard to imagine that every single ketchup packet and donut hole gets X-rayed before making it inside the terminal. A well-funded criminal conspiracy could probably sneak all sorts of contraband into the sterile area.
Of course, this is far more difficult and risky than taping bad stuff inside your undies. The body scanners raise the bar for would-be attackers, especially lone wolves.
Meet your future prison guards in the evolving police state.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had an anti-business, Communist streak. Surely you don’t think that businessmen travel for the sole purpose of delivering bribes!
Suppose you are buying a chemicals from a factory abroad. You do a site survey. Suppose a foreign firm has purchased your products, and you and your engineers have to monitor their deployment, or perhaps debug some glitches which appeared as soon as the products were launched. Suppose...
There are more cases where travel is necessary than when it is not. Your suggestion that travel is limited to diamond brokers and bagmen is just poorly reasoned.
I forgot about computer programming ... but still ... how many people really, really NEED to travel to accomplish business?
My example was not relating to computer programming. I was actually thinking of industrial equipment.
The answer to your question: many, many people really, really NEED to travel to accomplish business.
You’d be surprised at the nationwide business tele-conferencing I have done in the past few years from a local office. The cameras enable you to scan blue prints or products in fine detail.
Commercial flying is something I don’t do anymore. Occasionally, I’ll charter but nothing commercial where I’m a insulted by TSA staff and procedures.
Teleconferencing can be very useful, adn if it works for your business, can save you a load of money.
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