Government to take over airport jobs....

September 17, 2007 By Dale Rodebaugh | Herald Staff Writer
http://durangoherald.com/

The federal Transportation Security Administration will take over the task of validating identification and boarding passes at Durango-La Plata County Airport beginning Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

"We're rolling out our Travel Document Checkers at additional airports, including Durango, this fall," Carrie Harmon, regional public affairs manger for TSA in Denver, said Friday. "We'll be adding an additional 1,300 TSOs (transportation safety officers) in fiscal 2008."

TSA employees currently check luggage at Durango-La Plata County Airport. Document verification will be an extension of their work.

Animas Ground Services, which contracts with airlines to perform the document verification service in Durango, no longer will be used.

"Here we go again," Bruce Shisler, the owner of Animas Ground Services, said Sunday. "It's a taking without any compensation. I can't see it any other way."

In 2002, Shisler said, he let 168 employees go when TSA took over pre-boarding security in Aspen, Eagle, Gunnison, Amarillo, Tex., and Appleton, Wis., that his company was handling. He was left with Durango.

"Now, I lose nine part-time employees, including four senior citizens, a college student and two Vietnam veterans," Shisler said.

Shisler said he was told Monday a week ago that TSA would taker over document verification at Durango. The decision was reiterated in writing Thursday, he said.

Huntleigh Corp., another security-services provider, took the government to court because of jobs it lost to TSA, Shisler said. Lower-court decisions ruled in its favor but were overturned on appeal in March, he said.

"You have no chance against the government," Shisler said.

TSA already checks identification and travel documents at about 200 airports across the country, including JFK and Baltimore-Washington. Harmon didn't know how soon that would occur, but the switch will be done as quickly as possible.

"At airports where travel-document checking already is being done by TSA, the work is funded through efficiency gained elsewhere such as fewer on-the-job injuries," Harmon said. "The direction for TSA to move ahead with TDC at other airports is being funded by Congress."

TSA document checkers will take 190 hours of basic training, plus ongoing supplementary classes, Harmon said. Additionally, they will talk with passengers and observe behavior to spot passengers who could pose trouble.

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