Screeners Threaten Walkout

Unhappy about citizenship requirements in the new airport security law, screeners at San Francisco International Airport are threatening to walk off the job during the year’s busiest travel weekend.

A wide-ranging aviation security bill signed into law by President Bush on Monday requires that airport security workers be U.S. citizens. But 60% to 80% of the 1,200 screeners at the airport are legal residents, not citizens, said Daz Lamparas, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 790.

He said there was “strong sentiment” to take action among the noncitizen workers. “They have nothing to lose anyway because they will be laid off in the next three to six months,” he said. “They are really upset. The morale of the workers is really very low.”

The union opposes the walkout, he said. It had organized workers at San Francisco and most of Los Angeles International Airport and had active campaigns at eight other airports until mid-September, when the attacks cut deeply into airline travel.

Airport officials said they have a contingency plan in place. “It won’t shut the airport down if they walk off the job,” said Henry Thompson, an airport duty manager.

San Francisco’s screeners are not alone in their concerns about the law. An industry trade group estimates that 25% of the nation’s about 20,000 screeners lack citizenship.

With its high proportion of immigrants, California is likely to be the hardest hit. About 40% of the screeners at LAX are legal U.S. residents but not citizens, according to unions that represent them.

Under the law, airport screening will immediately come under a new Transportation Security Administration. Within a year, all screeners will have to be federal employees.

Although the changes will be phased in, union officials said the complex law appears to call for all screeners to be citizens within 90 days. Airport officials have expressed concern that they may not have enough time to hire screeners and adequately train them.

The union representing San Francisco screeners met late Wednesday and planned to meet again during the holiday weekend, Lamparas said. Screeners could walk out as early as Sunday, typically a big travel day as people return home after Thanksgiving.