FUTURE OF AIRCRAFT SAFETY AT CORE OF NW MECHANICS STRIKE

By Diane M. Grassi

On August 20, 2005 at 12:01 AM, airline mechanics and maintenance workers of Northwest Airlines, based in Eagan, MN, went on strike. Northwest is the fourth largest airline in the United States as well as the number one carrier providing air travel to Asia. While negotiations had been ongoing for the past five months between Northwest Airlines management and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) in order to avoid an impasse and eventual strike, the concessions, according to AMFA were more than about pay cuts and reductions in benefits. At the heart of the demands by Northwest was job security for those even agreeing to take the proposed 25% cut in salary, as well as revisions to the pension plan.

Northwest has requested AMFA to accept a contract eliminating 53% of its jobs. Trimming its workforce of mechanics and other maintenance workers from 10,000 in 2001 to 4,400 today, Northwest looks to decrease its 3,600 mechanics to 2,350. AMFA was told that Northwest is looking to cut $176 million in annual costs. For those accepting the 25% salary reductions, there will be no guarantee of workers keeping their jobs as increases in outsourcing both in the U.S. and abroad are on the agenda for Northwest. Northwest CEO, Doug Steenland, said, “The lion’s share of aviation maintenance in the industry is done by third-party providers who can do the work cheaper and faster.”

But Northwest is not any different than every other major and low-cost airline in the U.S., with the exception of American Airlines, in outsourcing an average of at least 50% of maintenance work. American Airlines has revisited their outsourcing policy and now only depends on outsourcing for 20% of its maintenance jobs, while America West and Alaska Airlines outsource 79% and 77% of their maintenance, respectively. According to David Campbell, American Airline’s Vice President of Base Operations, on keeping 80% of its maintenance in-house says, “Having that control gives us greater ability to mitigate safety risks.”

Northwest, however, would rather discuss how it would be better for the AMFA workers to accept its terms rather than bankruptcy which Northwest may very well face, having lost $3 billion since 2001. In addition, the airline industry as a whole and primarily the big carriers, have used the 9/11 attacks, a recession, the SARS scare, low-cost carrier growth and surging fuel prices as justification for permanently eliminating U.S. maintenance jobs. But unlike other industries which are long gone to offshoring in China, Asia and third world countries, U.S. oversight of aircraft is far different than that of textile manufacturing, for example. Airlines have a far different obligation to the public.

In a 2005 report issued by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General, there were key concerns regarding outsourcing of airplane maintenance, even though there has not been a fatal accident involving a U.S. aircraft since November 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into a Rockaway, NY neighborhood, killing 265 people. The DOT report stated, “The FAA must assure the public that industry changes, including financial distress and growth, do not compromise safety.” A major case in point is that Northwest has shifted maintenance to offshore sites such as Singapore (known to embody terrorist cells) as well as the People’s Republic of China. There, specialized work including periodic major overhauls, legally required for commercial aircraft, is performed. The airline industry necessitates greater oversight by the FAA as it is an issue of national security.

Since September 11, 2001, the FAA requires all airport-based airline employees in the U.S. to submit to a “Fingerprint-Based Criminal History Background Check,” which probes the past ten years of an employee’s past. No such checks are required of employees at off-site contractors located in the U.S. or from mechanics working on U.S. commercial aircraft in a foreign country. Northwest of course does not stand alone but is rather a participant in the globalization and fractured nature of the airline industry. Should the latest mechanics’ strike continue for any extended period of time without any serious accidents or fatalities, look for Northwest to seek redemption, rather than address the various dangers and issues on various levels, which are the direct result of outsourcing airplane maintenance.

According to the Office of Inspector General of the DOT, it has requested increased monitoring of outsourced maintenance by the FAA. And the DOT has found that safety inspections at low-cost carriers are not increasing proportionately to their rapid growth. In one instance an unnamed airline increased its fleet by 56% over three years while cutting its mechanics by 14%. But the FAA “did not identify the increase in flights and reduction in mechanics as risks or evaluate the impact. ..on the air carrier’s maintenance and operations.” Additionally, budget cuts within the FAA have meant the loss of 300 inspectors since 2004.

In 2003, FAA employees failed to complete 26% or 938 of the safety inspections planned at five of the big carriers, which included Northwest. The FAA did not increase its surveillance of three of them until they were in or near bankruptcy. The DOT’s Inspector General report of 2003 cited, “the outside shop left vulnerabilities in the quality of aircraft repairs.” FAA inspectors’ union vice president Linda Goodrich stated, “We are lucky to go to each of these facilities once a year with announced visits. It’s just not possible to do more,” due to budget cuts. According to Ted Ludwig, president of Local 33 of the AMFA, “We are headed for disaster if the FAA continues to be run like this, and the carriers are put in charge of monitoring outsourcing.” The FAA also does not keep track of exactly how much maintenance is being outsourced and offshored, although industry analysts expect it to grow to an average of 60% by 2008.

The Transportation Safety Administration, under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, has addressed mandatory drug, alcohol and background checks of third-party contractors in the U.S. and abroad, but has not come up with any comprehensive plan or regulation as of yet. How realistic it would be to oversee work in countries from North America, Europe, South and Central America, Asia and the Far East remains a quagmire and would require a policy change, first and foremost. As laws and regulations overseas are far different than those in the U.S., especially concerning drug tests, it remains an unresolved issue.

In March of 2005, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency arrested 27 illegal aliens who were working at one of the largest aircraft maintenance contractor facilities in the U.S., located in Greensboro, N.C. The illegal employees were from Central and South America, the Sudan and the Philippines. These arrests were symbolic in the sense that they took place in the U.S. where the airlines and the FAA have the chance to oversee third-party contractors. But FAA inspectors continue to focus mainly on maintenance at airlines in hangars where in-house maintenance takes place rather than at third-party contractors in the U.S. or abroad. In addition, some foreign repair stations subcontract work out to other contractors, which are not licensed or cleared by the FAA.

Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, when referring to outsourcing and offshoring of aircraft maintenance says, “The current accident rate does not mean there is no risk. The next tragedy is just around the corner.” Let us hope that Congressman Oberstar is wrong and that the respective factions of government will take on yet another deliberate crack in U.S. national security policy, at a time when nothing of the kind should be tolerated.