The answers to your questions!

There are no dual function screeners at SFO.

There are no "Leads" in the baggage community.

Are you enjoying your quarterly bonus?

Covenant Aviation, the profit before product company, announced last week that our quarterly bonus would be in our paychecks dated 5/29/15.

For screeners, that amounts to 83 cents per day; for supervisors it amounts to $1.66 per day.  Just how much did our stellar management team get?

Are you feeling appreciated? Are you motivated to provide "world class customer service"?  Or are you following the lead of our management team and are only in it for the money?

Once again, we will state the obvious:  "The quality of the only product that you have to offer is determined solely by the example set in place by management!"

The votes have been counted!

The votes have been counted, and the totals are: 498 "yes" votes to 121 "no" votes. Too many of us did not vote, and the measure missed passing by 72 votes.

We will be filing an "objection to the election" as soon as possible.  The illegal and harassing methods used by SEIU to intimidate and spread falsehoods was completely against all rules.

Is this not a form of slave labor?

How can it be legal for Covenant Aviation to severely restrict the ability of the members of the workforce to take a day off?  Just how does this company -- who, in some circles, is known to be a company that puts profit-before-product -- get away with this?  

The workforce can bid to take a full week off for a vacation, but just try to bid for one day off!  This inept company keeps staffing levels so low that they cannot afford to have employees take just one day off.  Why is this such an issue?  Do they not have sufficient managerial skill to balance the staffing levels, and adjust for employees' requests for time off?  We have already seen the level of incompetence demonstrated by this stellar management team! 

If an employee is regularly scheduled two sequential days off, it is common to request time off for the subsequent two days when planning a vacation or time with family -- this allows the employee to have four days off, while only using two vacation days.  But Covenant Aviation makes this process nearly impossible and continues to stick it to their employees non-stop.

We have been told by members of the workforce that requests to have a single day off, made to their respective managers, have gone unanswered. These unanswered requests are a standard practice of upper management. Just when will this unfair treatment end?  We hope real soon, with a not-so-fond farewell to this "profit-before-product" company known as Covenant Aviation LLC.

Among the many lies that the union has told ...

one of the biggest is that they will leave if they don't get paid, that they don't work for nothing. That when they leave, we will lose our jobs or that our salaries will be reduced. That we need them now more than ever!  Yeah, right!

Just why is this union so focused on getting more money for doing nothing?

Could it be because union officials have been found guilty of misappropriating funds, which must now be repaid?  

Let us tell you about an SEIU official by the name of Tyrone Freeman:  Mr. Freeman is facing a maximum sentence of 180 years for his crime!

But don't take our word for it, read the story for yourselves:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tyrone-freeman-20130129,0,3528628.story

The Distance Between The Two Sides Is Getting

wider and wider.

The previous two postings only shows how management remains committed to using measures that will do nothing to improve worker morale.

Threats and attempts at intimidation will only make the workforce more determined.  Have you not learned anything over the years?  If you show respect you will get respect.  Do you not see what type of workforce you are cultivating?  Do you not see that we are fed up?

Do you not realize that this blog is being read by other airport employees around the country?  We have been contacted by members of the TSA workforce at airports who may or may not opt out.  Is this the image CAS wants them to see?  Just how willing do you think they will be to work with CAS management?  Your reputation will surely precede you!

Open your eyes and learn from your mistakes.

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!

Letters, We Get Letters About Life in the SPP

We've recently been contacted by some people out in federal TSA land. They are worried about their airports' showing interest to go private and they are worried about their futures. One thing they want to know is if it's true there are no shift differentials at SFO, as reported at this blog. It seems that the differentials are an important part of their overall package.

Well, they are correct to worry and to start asking questions. John Pistole has been hinting that 10% higher costs in the SPP is not cost-effective in his eyes, which might give TSOs hope that Pistole will reject SPP applications. But in Washington, Pistole will be an army of one with that kind of thinking. In Washington, 10% is within reason. He's likely to lose in the long run (as planned by Obama's good pals in labor, of course). The possible exception is small airports where the contractors can't cut essential staff and claim enough efficiencies to pocket the difference.

Our new contacts have honed in on a very important detail. Where's the differential? It must be implemented, and it must be factored in!

So, what do you think happens now?

There is legislation in the Senate today that would force the TSA to let airports opt out of the Federal screening program. If it passes it will go to Obama, who is expected to approve and sign on said legislation.

More private companies with government contracts means more union dues for union coffers. Since unions are the biggest contributors to President Obama's re-election campaign, we can all guess where the dues will go.

There are two loopholes for the TSA to use. They would have to prove that, as the BusinessWeek article states, the "move wouldn’t be cost-effective and would be detrimental to security."
Of those two loopholes, the easiest path for the TSA seems to be the old standby, "that it would be detrimental to security!"

How would the TSA substantiate their complaints against Covenant? Testing, testing and more testing! They would have to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that private companies are not capable of providing the quality of security comparable to that which the TSA provides.

So, once again, does anyone think that the TSA will just sit idly by and watch their "empire" shrink?

We think not. If we thought that we were tested before, think again. This new legislation will bring the testing to an even more intense level, and the battle lines have been drawn.

Buckle up; we are in for a rough ride.

Rep. John Mica feels da pain!

In an article, which we will include a link to, Mr. Mica talks about " a solution to a dysfunctional workplace." According to him, the only way to correct these issues is to go to private contractors.

Huh? It seems that he is totally and completely fooled by Mr. Gerry L. Berry of Winter Springs,Florida. If he wants an honest and frank opinion of the morale and working conditions here at SFO he will never get it from Mr. Berry.

Mr. Berry condones favoritism! He condones girlfriends promoting their boyfriends. He condones the promotion of people who don't meet the basic qualifications set forth in our job postings. Just look at the recently announced promotions for the SCC positions. All three of them have not been here the required one full year. Yet, our H.R. department looks the other way when they should be crying out that this is wrong!

(Also, isn't it amazing how quickly these promotions were filled and announced? Yet, the promotions for the Checkpoint and Baggage are still left unfilled. What are we missing here?)

Mr. Mica should just continue to focus on the bloated staffing levels at the TSA. He needs to do more "homework" before he makes a statement about feeling our pain and frustration. His solution is not a solution, it would only change the "warden."

http://gcn.com/blogs/gov-careers/2011/06/feeling-tsa-workers-pain.aspx

A PiP is not an Occurence!

We recently learned that CAS has been intimidating some of the newbie checkpoint screeners into signing an occurrence form for failing a certain procedure that they were unfamiliar with.

We will not, and cannot, go into details relating to the exact procedure that is causing a PiP to be issued. But, CAS needs to do the right thing by making sure that everyone becomes familiar with this procedure and they also need to educate the "newbies" as to their rights.

Intimidation is not the proper course of action! Let's not take advantage of those who are less informed.

TSA will be the first to admit....

that they have been reactionary instead of proactive. It is extremely difficult to anticipate the "next" threat before it becomes the next threat. The new TSA administrator, Mr. John Pistole, has brought a new culture and a new sense of urgency. DHS, the 800 pound gorilla in all of this, is the one really behind all these reactionary responses. The new TSA administrator will need time to implement new procedures and policies. He is the right man for the job!

One of his best and biggest suggestions to improve security is to increase the security level for 10,000 of the TSA workforce. This step alone can help bridge the gap between what the "upper" levels of TSA knows versus what the front-line workforce knows. More information means a more knowledgeable and professional workforce.

Let's give him all of the time and all the support he needs to get things done.

Howard

We are NOT screeners!

We hope that one of the things you have noticed over the last couple of months since the inception of this blog is that we almost never refer to the work force as "screeners." Did you know that it was in December of 2005 that TSA officially changed our title and the rest of our brethren that work for TSA across the country from TSS (Transportation Security Screener) to TSO (Transportation Security Officer). Sure, it's real easy to say that we're screeners, since we screen passengers and their luggage for bombs, weapons, and various other threats. But we shouldn't short change ourselves so easily.

The question to be asked is why did TSA do this? The reason is quite simple. They wanted to add more prestige to our job, and changing our title from Screener to Officer was an easy way to do it.

So why is it that we still refer to ourselves as Screeners? Why do we allow others and ourselves to demean ourselves by referring to us as Screeners. The job title of "Airport Screener" has years of negative connotations attached to it. After all, we just play in to Covenant Aviation Security's mindset that we're "just screeners." A Screener doesn't know anything, right? So it's not nearly as demeaning if management would say to you, "You're just an Officer!" Ahhh...all of a sudden that statement doesn't belittle us!

Covenant Aviation Security still lists us as TSS and DFS in all of their databases and CAS created documentation, even though those titles have not officially existed within TSA for almost five years. Hell, even our own union calls us "Screeners."

One of the ways to get respect from management is by refusing to allow them to call us "Screeners." Whenever you hear yourself, a supervisor, or a manger referring to us as a "Screener," correct them! Until we change the mindset of something relatively simple as what they call us, we'll never begin to get the respect that we deserve.