This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Air Industry Backs a Bill to Privatize Control Jobs August 14, 2003 By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - Airport and airline officials today gave strong support to a bill that would allow the Federal Aviation Administration to contract out the jobs of more than 2,000 controllers, saying the move would save money without harming safety. The bill, which would authorize $60 billion in spending by the aviation administration over the next four years, also provides money needed for war risk insurance, security improvements and air traffic control modernizations, according to James C. May, the president and chief executive of the Air Transport Association, the airline trade group. Unions representing air traffic controllers, some of whose jobs could be contracted out to private companies under the bill, have been lobbying to defeat it. Supporters of the controllers also said they would seek an extension of the current authorization, which expires on Sept. 30. The new bill, now in the form of a conference report reconciling differing House and Senate versions, would permit the aviation agency to contract out about 2,000 jobs of controllers who work in Flight Service Stations, offices that do not direct traffic, but provide briefings, mostly to private pilots, on weather and temporary airspace restrictions. It would also let the agency contract out hundreds of other jobs at 69 air traffic towers, mostly at smaller airports but at some large ones. The union representing the tower controllers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, has been fighting the bill. At the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists, which represents the flight service station controllers, Darrell Mounts, a regional director in Denver, said that at a recent meeting of private pilots, his group had collected more than 1,000 signatures for a petition opposing privatization. Supporters of the bill say the number of jobs to be contracted out is small. "The unions that oppose this conference report are using the old Washington trick of dressing up a sheep in wolf's clothing, and selling a fear of wolves," said Charles Barclay, president of the American Association of Airport Executives. "This is hardly the description of a privatization wolf," he said. He spoke at a news conference called to support the bill. But John Carr, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, called the bill more than a case of a camel getting its nose into the tent. "It's the camel sitting in the tent, having a mai tai, and you're paying for it," he said. The Bush administration has instructed federal agencies to evaluate 800,000 jobs to see if they could be privatized. President Bill Clinton had defined the air traffic control jobs as "inherently governmental" in nature and thus not subject to privatization review, but President Bush dropped that designation. The controllers and their supporters say that federal employees are safer than contract employees. Representative James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House aviation subcommittee, said in a conference call with reporters today that providing air traffic control would come down to an argument like: "Buy it from Joe's Air Service. No, Acme's got a lower bid." But Mr. May, of the airline trade group, called union opposition "a contrived issue of self interest." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/politics/14PRIV.html?ex=1061868673&ei=1&en=173ce2818e3e586d --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company