All the fascist on the other list were saying "I am glad that the jobs are going to Americans now" when TSA implemented the US Citizen rule. BAHA Fan of turning back to clock to 1999. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of damiross2@attbi.com Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 3:01 PM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Airport Screeners Hard to Come by From: David Ross -------------------- Airport Screeners Hard to Come by -------------------- By JONATHAN D. SALANT Associated Press Writer July 28, 2002, 12:59 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- The government, now recruiting passenger screeners at almost every commercial airport, is finding a surprisingly high percentage of unqualified applicants and far fewer female candidates than expected. The Transportation Security Administration already has scrapped the goal of filling half of all screening positions with women. The aim now is one-third. Officials have stepped up advertising and recruitment campaigns -- job fairs were held at seven cities during the weekend and six more are scheduled this week -- and are trying to attract more women by offering part-time positions or seasonal work. The agency, created in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, is hiring screeners at 415 of the nation's 429 commercial airports. Five airports will continue to have privately employed screeners under a pilot program approved by Congress, but the other 424 are supposed to have an all-federal work force by Nov. 19. Agency officials maintain they can meet the congressionally imposed deadline. Less certain are many lawmakers, the Transportation Department inspector general and the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. "Initial difficulties in hiring and training the passenger screener work force will make it challenging for TSA to meet the deadline for federalizing this work force," said Gerald Dillingham, the GAO's director of civil aviation issues. Under the aviation security law passed after Sept. 11, screeners must be U.S. citizens, have a high school degree or one year of full-time work in airport screening or other security job, and be proficient in English. The starting salaries are $23,600 to $35,400, plus health insurance, retirement benefits and paid leave. Those in high-cost metropolitan areas get more. The private-sector screeners being phased out generally earned minimum wage, or around $10,000 a year, and often received no benefits. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta insists the agency is on track to have enough screeners in place by the deadline, though only about 5,000 of the roughly 30,000 total jobs have been filled. "You start out slowly," he said. In some places, the start has been exceedingly slow. The agency needs 2,300 screeners to staff the three New York-area airports -- La Guardia, Kennedy and Newark -- but only 368 people accepted job offers as of mid-July, said Alexis Stefani, the Transportation Department's assistant inspector general. In many cases, applicants who meet the initial qualifications do not show up for prehiring tests, which measure English skills and the ability to deal with the public, Stefani said. The TSA has adjusted its outlook and now expects only one-third of those deemed qualified to actually show up for the preliminary tests and more than half of those fail. Many of those failing the tests are current screeners, which TSA officials say indicates the department has strengthened hiring requirements. Meantime, efforts to recruit women are falling short. Only about 22 percent of federal screeners are women, agency figures show. Though the goal of 50 percent was reduced to one-third, the agency is sticking to its plan to have only female screeners frisk female passengers. Only two of the first 67 federal security directors hired were women, agency records show. The directors are responsible for security at individual airports. The TSA did not have a specific goal for hiring blacks and other minorities, though it has said it wants a work force reflective of America. Of the first 2,200 screeners hired, 453 were black and 130 were Hispanic. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the agency needs to do more to attract women and minorities. In particular, the Texas Democrat suggested the government target people who have lost their jobs since Sept. 11 or are on welfare. The TSA this week plans to recruit at the National Urban League conference in Los Angeles. "We're working very hard to make sure we have a balanced work force," said the incoming head of the TSA, retired Coast Guard Adm. James Loy. * __ On the Net: Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.dot.gov Copyright (c) 2002, The Associated Press -------------------- This article originally appeared at: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-airport-screeners0728jul 28.story Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com