Covenant Aviation and the Art of Deception!

Tours of the Checkpoint and Baggage screening locations of Covenant Aviation in SFO are being lead by local TSA. So Covenant, ever wanting to give the appearance of a professional and well-managed company, has decided to put fresh lipstick on this pig!

We were told not to speak to any members of the tour group (in order to keep our trade secrets from getting out). What, if any, trade secrets do we have? How about none!  We follow, or at least should follow, the exact same SOP. 

Which brings us to this question: Why are other airports thinking of opting out of the TSA screening program and considering going to private contractors?  If we all follow the exact same SOP, there should be no difference in wait times or performance! In fact, a private contractor's main objective is to generate a profit at the expense of their employees. Worker morale and motivation deteriorates as more and more is taken away from the employees! These airports should seriously reconsider this course of action. Be careful what you wish for.

Your Job Is At Risk, And You Will Be Reported!

By now you should have heard about the screening violations that occurred in Florida.  According to TSA Administrator John Pistole, "When we find people not doing the job, we'll give them due process -- but we will hold them accountable, and we will fire them."

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/article/259353/4/Florida-airport-security-chief-among-those-suspended-from-TSA

Any TSO, who is either asked to perform or voluntarily performs, any duty not in their job classification will be identified and reported for violating the SOP.  CAS will have failed to properly supervise its workforce in order to prevent these SOP violations.

 
Follow the SOP and protect yourself!

We Renew Our Pledge To The TSA And To Those...

passengers who depend upon us to provide for their safety. 

Unlike our management we are not "just in this for the money."  Unlike our management we do know the difference between right and wrong.

We made a pledge when we signed on for these positions and we intend to honor that pledge.

A Special Message To Our...

brothers and sisters in the Baggage Community. 

At one minute after midnight tonight the former baggage leads will become members of the TSO ranks. 

At one minute after midnight CAS will be in violation of the SOP.  Shortly thereafter we will be contacting the Office of the Inspector General outlining these violations.  We will leave no stone unturned in our attempt to remedy this situation.  

As we approach the start of our new shift schedule

remember that the company, who puts profit before security, expects you to follow your schedule.
The company that plans to eliminate our dental plan, parking allowance, and other benefits needs you to do the right thing.  The company that has never shown us any respect or appreciation is counting on you to forget, for the moment, their threats. 

So, the question that begs to be asked is, "Just what kind of response does this company deserve to get from us?"  What will the first day of the new schedule be like?  How many of you will call off?  Just how will you let the company know how you feel?  Will it be Kincare or FMLA?

As usual the choice is yours; do what you think is best!

"Take your time!"

It is more important than ever to take your time. We all need to take our time and to follow the SOP to the letter. Do the job as safely and professionally as we all should.

There has been a credible, but non specific threat announced today and, if anyone needed a reason to exercise more care this is your wake up call. Remain vigilant even after the 10 year anniversary of the events of 9/11 have passed. The life you save could be your own!

Take your time!

As we are fast approaching the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, it is imperative that we use the utmost care when performing the screening process. Before you open any bag, whether it be at the checkpoint or in the baggage inspection rooms, carefully examine the image on the screen.
Your primary focus has to be, "is it safe for me to open this bag? Is there anything here that presents an obvious threat to me and to all those around me?"
For your own personal safety, and for the safety of your co-workers, take your time. If you have any doubts at all confer with a co-worker. Don't be distracted by anything else that may be going on around you.

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Is CAS management getting the message?

We heard that there was an attendance problem on Monday, but does management understand why? Do they have a clue?

The rank and file have chosen to express a level of unhappiness with recent decisions and have chosen to do so in a way that should alert management that there are problems to be solved. When bad decisions are made it affects us all. But bad decisions have become standard practice at CAS. The thought processes have never included considering the ramifications of a bad decision.

Oddly enough, operational needs have taken a back seat!
Management continues to negatively impact our ability to perform our duties effectively and efficiently. When will they recognize that providing a high level of security is our only product.

How do we protect ourselves?

With everything that the TSA has, and will, throw at us the next question should be, how do I protect myself from a loss of employment?

The simple answer is to follow the SOP 100% of the time!

Not sure, or don’t remember what you have read way back when? Tell your supervisor that you need and want to refresh your memory about the SOP procedures. Document when you told your supervisor and where you were. (Such as Pier B, Pier C, etc.) Have a witness who will be able to verify that this actually took place and jot down the time.

Once again, do not let an unresolved alarm go. Do not release a person or their property until you are absolutely certain that the alarm has been resolved. Do not look at the length of the line or the number of bags waiting to be screened. Do what we have been hired to do. Our only function is to provide security according to the TSA SOP standards.

The Case of the Missing SOPs

As much as we love to rail against the ineptitude of the CAS management, we have equal feelings when it comes to TSA. One must remember that the number one objective of any good bureaucrat is to maintain the status quo. A good bureaucrat starts his or her day thinking one thing: "What do I have to do to ensure that everything stays the same?" Because change can not only be frightening, it might also mean that it will require more work and effort on one's part. Which means that the good bureaucrat will do whatever in order to avoid change.  Not maintaining the status quo could potentially lead to opportunities of being terminated.

So what is the deal with the missing SOPs? It turns out that TSA HQ wants airports to lock down the access to SOPs and want a daily accounting of those SOPs. Being the good bureaucrat that Ed Gomez is, and don't let his grandfatherly facade fool you otherwise, he had to deal with this order from his bosses. Instead of making use of the several hundreds of thousands of tax payers' dollars that are spent every year on those TSA suits by giving them something to do, he opted to have them removed from all of the locations. Now that those books are in one central location, it's very easy to have a daily accounting for the SOPs. Simple, yes?

The next time you or or your STSO have a question about SOP and can not easily get an answer, you know who to blame.

New procedure for patdowns coming

According to this USA Today article, it looks as though we can expect a new procedure for the patdowns that we're currently doing. They're currently testing a seemingly more invasive type of patdown at Boston Logan and Las Vegas McCarran airports. We suppose this was inevitable. Yet, this is so typical of a government bureaucracy like this. They take years and years to change something that should have been changed years ago.

Of course, what this really means for the work force is just more work and more annoyed passengers. Security First, always remember that. Now if we could just get Covenant Aviation Security to stop forcing us to do additional procedures that are not required by the SOP.