Job Security Darkened by Airport Security

I found myself outraged after reading “Service Employees Fearful About Jobs” (Sept. 14), about the airport workers (skycaps, security screeners, wheelchair attendants, etc.) who may lose their jobs or may have to accept less lucrative positions to keep working. Huntleigh USA President Joe Tuero has announced that the approximately 50,000 employees they have working at airports across the country will not be getting paid for the three days the airports have been closed.

Tuero and his fellow executives are paid handsome salaries and, of course, will probably not see their paychecks shortened by this tragedy. Their compensation is earned off the backs of these hard-working, low-paid employees, and I believe Huntleigh USA and its owners and/or shareholders should pay their employees who missed three days of work through no fault of their own. (It’s part of coming together.)

Terry Long

North Hills

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None of the new, improved airport safety precautions would have prevented Sept. 11’s tragedies. These are simply more mindless regulations. The result will be more passenger inconvenience. This is simply more government “eyewash.” A plane can be hijacked with a set of keys, a Mont Blanc pen, dental floss and toothbrushes to make a garrote. We cannot defend against kamikaze-type attacks unless we arm the pilots and beef up the cockpit door. There is no doubt that had the pilots been armed, Sept. 11 would have turned out very differently.

Bob Therrien

Mission Beach

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Could someone please explain how the prohibition of curbside check-in, passenger drop-off and meeting passengers at the gate makes us more secure? Now is the time for calm, reasoned and effective responses to the events of Sept. 11, not for meaningless gestures that inconvenience millions and cost thousands of skycaps their jobs. This is the kind of bureaucratic “solution” that must make the perpetrators of last Tuesday’s horror chuckle as we respond by resolutely wrapping ourselves in red tape.

Dan Wolf

Glendale