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James48843
08-12-2009, 08:59 PM
Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS),
AFL-CIO
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kori Blalock Keller (202) 293-7277
Local Contact: Frank Gentile (817) 360-1315
August 12, 2009


FAA MANAGEMENT PAYING EMPLOYEES TO STAY HOME RATHER THAN PERFORM SAFETY-CRITICAL WORK
Situation Wasting Funds and Increasing Safety Risks


SAN ANTONIO, TX - This week, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), which represents aviation safety inspectors, discovered that inspectors have been ordered to stay at home with full pay rather than perform their safety-related jobs. Essentially, management decided it was better for these employees, who are responsible for ensuring aviation safety, to stay at home at the expense of taxpayers rather than protect the flying public.

Management in the San Antonio Flight Standards District Office refused to permit an inspector to report to work while his management attended a meeting in Washington, D.C. He was informed that without proper "babysitting," management did not want him in the office. As a result, the safety inspector is currently spending the week at home with pay.

This type of mismanagement is specifically disturbing since inspectors are a highly trained and specialized professional workforce with a corresponding high salary. "This action is just another example of wasting taxpayers' money as the FAA has arbitrarily decided to take this inspector out of public service," said Frank Gentile, the PASS Southwest region representative. Management's only response to PASS regarding this action is that they are uncomfortable with this inspector being unsupervised. This is a particularly remarkable pronouncement considering all principal inspectors work in an environment with tremendous autonomy and accomplish job functions independent of direct supervision.

"This is plain and simple mismanagement," added Gentile. "And, unfortunately, the loser here is the flying American public." Considering last year's revelation that the FAA had failed to adequately oversee Southwest Airlines and recent reports that the FAA is allowing maintenance facilities in San Antonio to hire foreign workers at lower wages to perform many safety-related functions, the situation is especially alarming. "Aviation safety inspectors are the only people trained and able to perform specific safety-related functions. It is imperative that they be allowed to perform their work and satisfy their obligations to the flying American public."

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PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems. For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org (http://www.passnational.org/).

CapeChem
08-13-2009, 08:51 AM
so they should have allowed an inspector that can't properly perform his duties without proper supervision to inspect some flight critical hardware....so then when the aircraft goes down then the FAA gets raked for allowing an inspector who shouldn't be inspecting on his own inspect......sounds like a catch 22. I don't kknow the specifics of this case but "babysitting" could also be "Mentoring"....Making sure someone can do the job right before you let him do it himself.

FYI
08-13-2009, 03:29 PM
It sounds like a serious case of micro management/intimidation, if he is still being paid appears there is no grounds of this person being incompetant. If a safety issue were effident then it seems different action would have been taken instead. I dont recall any major accidents happening as a result of staff at the San Antonio office-Surely we would have heard of this. Management in Government agencies seem to be power hungry all over and breed fear into staff and clients especially in the Aviation field. I have dealt with this individual over many years in my dealings with the FAA and know him to be extremely competent and knowledgable. He is a certified CL 600 Canadair Challenger pilot and is precise in his flying and the Regulations for air safety. He has received a commendation from the US Ambassador to the United Nations for Exemplary work. I have flown with this person on numerous occasions and found him to be an excellent pilot and very thorough in contrast to others I have flown with. Currently the San Antonio FSDO is rated the 2nd worst FSDO in the country, due mostly to the mismanagement of the current Manager and Operations Supervisor of which I have dealt with and have walked away frustrated and confused.

2EASY
08-13-2009, 03:47 PM
Something is wrong here. We all have other assigned duties besides our primary duties (ie., shredding, filing, etc...). He should be at work if he is getting paid.