Aussie union: Bombers could beat airport security
Australian unions complain that the practice of hiring temporary workers to handle baggage poses security risk; about 25 percent of temporary employees working at Australian airports at any time had not been security-checked; instead, they were covered by a temporary visitor pass while their application for a security ID card was processed
The Australian Transport Workers Union has warned that airport security is so full of flaws that determined terrorists could get bombs into planes, enter secure areas without background checks, and access private information on soldiers. Tony Sheldon, the union’s national secretary, said most labor-hire (that is, temporary) staff working on a temporary basis at airports were untrained in security awareness, which meant one line of defense was not present.
A serious flaw in the system was the engagement of temporary staff before they had security clearance and another was caterers’ access to aircraft. The combination of these two factors made him ”absolutely confident” that a bomber could beat the system.
Sydney Morning Herald’s Malcolm Brown writes that Sheldon was making a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission, which is inquiring into the adequacy of security measures in the aviation and maritime industries. He said customs officers rarely inspected cargo and catering material for contraband material. A large proportion of contractors’ staff working at Australian airports were labor-hire employees, who were meant to have an Airport Security Identification Card but had started working anyway.
Brown writes that the union believed that about 25 percent of labor-hire employees working at airports at any time had not been checked. Instead, they were covered by a temporary visitor pass while their application for a security ID card was processed.
”These employees could … [be] unsuitable for security clearance but under the current system the authorities do not know for two months at best,” Sheldon said. ”It is not uncommon for labor-hire employees to work under visitor passes for up to six months, thus working without background checks throughout this period.”
The high turnover of labor-hire staff meant they were ”untrained even in the most basic security awareness training’,’ and because of their job insecurity there was pressure not to report issues regarding security and to take risks that professionals were not prepared to take.
In the famous ”bomb on board” incident involving a United Airlines flight in 2004 the plane was turned back and the passengers evacuated. Before security personnel boarded the plane, however, baggage handlers were sent in. ”They were untrained in any security emergency procedures and later told union members that they feared for their jobs if they did not follow the orders to clear the plane,” he said.
Brown notes that a similar incident occurred in 2006, when six baggage handlers were told to board a Pacific Blue plane suspected of having a bomb — in a situation where the bomb squad had considered it too dangerous to send in sniffer dogs. The handlers had told the union they feared they would be sacked if they did not do it. ”It is extremely concerning that aviation companies continue to push to increase the number of labor-hire positions at the airport,” he said. ”It is a position motivated by profit rather than sound security practices.”
