TSA vs. Us?

As most of you know, there has been a lot of talk in the media about airports choosing to opt out of TSA and go with a private contractor, ala SFO. And if you're a regular reader you know that we regularly rail against Covenant, TSA, and SEIU. Well, there was a puff piece that hit the wires a couple weeks ago by Washington Post journalist Derek Kravitz. Here's the link if you care to read the piece:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123004986.html

Mr. Kravitz actually contacted us. We reached out to him, but he ultimately didn't care to get a response from us in the end as he never followed up to anything we said to him. Such is life.

In the piece he did manage to track down Gerry Berry and got a few choice quotes from him. Notably this morsel: "We have to be good - equal or better than the feds. So we work at it, and we incentivize."

This was in response to the March Madness competition that is held every year. What is not mentioned is that we all know that the March Madness competition has only happened twice so far. Nor is it mentioned that it's not really opened to all TSOs, LTSOs, or STSOs. Yes, since it is a competition, they have every right to limit the contestants to people with no levels. But don't try to fool us or anyone else for that matter that it's the best of the best.

The incentivize part is the most interesting bit. What incentives are there working for CAS? Do the hard workers get bigger raises or bonuses than the poor or lazy workers? What about promotions? Yeah, yeah, we all know the answer to that.

Mr. Kravitz does manage to mention that private contractors cost 9 to 17 percent more than TSA. That's not hard to imagine when we see all the managerial redundancy between CAS and TSA.

The airport director at Kansas City, Mark VanLoh, like our own Mike Bolles, is under the impression that it's easy to get rid of poor workers at airports without TSA. Yeah right! When was the last time you heard of someone getting fired for being lazy? In fact, you're statistically more likely to get fired by being a hard worker than if you are lazy. The more bag checks and pat downs you do, the more likely you're going to make a mistake.

The problem with the current system is within TSA. Going private does not guarantee better security or service since we're required to follow the same procedures and mandates. Have we forgotten about the "extra security" that we had to do with hand wands? What about those forced ratios of pat downs required at the Walk Through? Or remember that experiment at Pier C when we forced passengers to take ALL of their electronics out of their bags? I bet the passengers were just tickled pink about all of that!

TSA needs to be fixed. And going private is not necessarily the solution. Better training and more investment in the work force so that that collective experience can be taken advantage of. Quick turn over of workers doesn't fix that. Not that poor or incompetent workers should be kept around.

So, Mr. Kravitz, when you're ready to talk and get a no-nonsense discussion about Covenant, TSA, and the whole SPP, you know how to get a hold of us.