The previous blog post dealt with the news release about the "underwear bomber". This is truly a dreadful reminder that these types of actions will not abate. What I take away from this recent event is that we live in a world where a determined individual, or group, will most likely succeed in their goal to down an airliner. This is borne out by the fact that a young man was willing to strap a bomb to his testicles, and then attempt to destroy an aircraft by lighting the fuse. How can any agency, or government, succeed 100% of the time when people are insane enough to take an action such as this? Another thing that is obvious is that, in part because of this extremism, we work in a fragile and unpredictable industry. **EDIT, Here is an article from the New York Times discussing potential problems with the industry because of the new security regs. **
I say this not to invoke fear, but simply to state fact. In light of this, we need to plan for the possibility of another terrorist attack occurring, and the impact any successful attack will have on our industry. As a result of this unsuccessful attempt, there are already reports about long security lines across the country, and that will naturally cause people to want to fly less. This compounds the above mentioned fragility. All of the above is in spite of the fact that flying, even with the terrorism variable, is a much safer form of transportation than driving a car. Here is an interesting article on the odds of being injured because of a terrorist attack on an airliner.
Fortunately, well before this latest incident, the IBT started, and continues work on a couple of different initiatives that should minimize the impact on the membership in case of a successful attack; provided operations continue. The first effort is to amend the RLA to treat us in the same manner as rail workers when airlines file for bankruptcy protection. Here is a link to that story. The next project is developing strong scope protection during negotiations. There was an earlier post on the blog explaining what scope does, and why we need to strengthen our language.
What can we do to help these efforts? The first thing would be to contact our Senators and Representatives. Tell them we need the protections afforded to rail workers during bankruptcy proceedings. If you are not a member of D.R.I.V.E., you may want to consider this, as this is our political action committee. D.R.I.V.E. works to educate and persuade members of Congress regarding legislative issues that affect our ability to make a productive living. If you need further information on this program feel free to contact me. You can also remain strong in solidarity, and express to the Company that strong scope language is required, and would be a deal breaker if not achieved.
