Up to 80 percent of SFO screeners may lose their jobs because they are not U.S. citizens.
By I-chun Che
Date: 12/6/01

During Would War II, Romulo Ravel contributed to world peace as a messenger exchanging intelligence between Filipino guerillas and U.S. troops in Philippines's forest-clad mountains.

Now he is working at San Francisco International Airport as a screener, eight hours a day, sometimes six days a week, to ensure airport security.

But the 70-year-old Filipino, who has worked at SFO for three years, may lose his job because he is not a U.S. citizen. For him and the country's 7,000 immigrant screeners, U.S. citizenship is no longer a personal choice but a job requirement under the Aviation Security Act, signed by President Bush on November 19 to federalize airport security.

The screening process used to be the responsibility of airlines, which hired screeners from private security companies. After 19 hijackers took over airplanes with box cutters and small knives on Sept.11, lawmakers said that flying safety will be improved if all screeners are U.S. citizens.

A quarter of the nation's 28,000 screeners may be thrown out of their job because of the new regulation. SFO may be most affected among the country's 423 commercial airports since up to 80 percent of its 1,200 screeners are not U.S. citizens. About 90 percent of the non-citizen screeners come from Philippines.

"This is discrimination," Ravel said. "What is the difference between immigrants and U.S. citizens as long as we can do our job well?"

However, supporters of the law said current screeners are "poorly trained, low paid, and poorly motivated" because airlines have tried to reduce cost by using low cost, low bid security companies. Under the regulation, the Department of Transportation must hire and train new 28,000 screeners within a year.

"There is no guarantee that federal employees will do a better job that private employees. But that is not the real issue," said Rep. Don Young, also Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who introduced the Aviation Security Bill with Rep. John Mica, Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee.

"The real issue is how to achieve the highest level of security for the traveling public, particularly within next few months while we are at war against the terrorists who used our air transportation system to attack us," said the Alaska representative on Nov. 1 to urge the Congress to pass the aviation bill.

The citizenship requirement may not be an issue for Rep. Young. But for hundreds of SFO's immigrant screeners who may lose their job simply because they are not U.S. citizens, the new requirement threatens their livelihood.

"For many people, they need the job for a living," said Kim Tam, who has worked as a screener at SFO for more than three years. Tam, a new immigrant from Hong Kong, said he has not figured out what to do if forced to leave.

Union leaders blasted the requirement, saying that immigrant screeners have become the scapegoats by Congress, which has ignored the importance of airport security for years.

"Scapegoating immigrant workers is not the answer to our air safety program," said Daz Lamparas of Service Employees International Union Local 790, which represents screeners at SFO. "Immigrant screeners are hard-working because they take their job seriously."

Lamparas said it is unfair to blame screeners for letting hijackers with small knives pass security checkpoints because before Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration allowed passengers to carry collection knives and Swiss Army knife with them.

SFO officials are worried that the loss of such a larger number of security personnel will be a tremendous challenge, especially when its screeners are better trained and more motivated than most airports because of higher wages.

While the average wage of screeners at most American airports is around $6 per hour, the minimum wage of screeners at SFO was raised from $6.5 per hour without benefits to $10 per hour plus medical insurance in January 2001. After Sept.11, two of SFO's three security companies, Globe Aviation Airport Services and Argenbright Security Inc., raised screeners' wage to $13 per hour to retain good employees, an increase that has reduced the turnover rate from 200 percent same time last year to 15 percent.

"We agree with federal oversight and are willing to establish rules to qualify federal standards but we do not necessarily agree that federal employees will do a better job," said Ronald V. Wilson, director of Community Affairs at SFO.

Airport officials also believe isolating this small segment of security personnel seems unrealistic considering many non-citizens, including pilots, mechanics, flight attendants and baggage handlers, will continue to work at the airport in secure areas. Workers such as janitors and carpet cleaners can enter terminals without passing security checkpoints by sliding their ID card through a security system at a separate entrance beneath the terminals.

"U.S. citizenship will not guarantee safer air travel," said union spokesman Lamparas. "The right way to ensure a qualified workforce is to require all screeners, regardless of their immigration status, to pass stringent background checks before they are hired."

Currently, all airport employees, including screeners, must receive a 10-year background check. Applicants with felony record will not be accepted. After Sept. 11, the SFO installed a fingerprint biometric system, which can compare the fingerprints of employees and applicants against a criminal database.

Union organizers at SFO are cooperating with the city government to the Department of Transportation to revoke the citizenship requirement before it finalizes the detailed job requirements of screeners on Dec. 19.

SFO is also considering applying for a pilot program, allowing the country's five biggest airports to hire employees from private security contractors as screeners. The private firms will be closely supervised by the DOT. Though the citizenship requirement is still applied in the pilot program, the San Francisco City Council passed a resolution Monday to ask the DOT to make an exception for the five airports.

In case all efforts failed, SFO director John L. Martin and San Francisco mayor Willie L. Brown sent a letter on Nov. 21 to the Congress and DOT, pleading them for allowing SFO some flexibility in allowing screeners with citizenship applications pending to stay. Citizenship classes and legal service might be offered to help screeners prepare for citizenship tests.

"The government should give (screeners) priority to get citizenship," said Lolita Panganiban, who has worked at SFO for five years and half as a screener. She said though she is qualified, she hasn't applied for citizenship because citizenship application is expensive and complicated.

For some of Panganiban's coworkers, they will be unable to obtain citizenship in time to reapply for their jobs because they have not been permanent U.S. residents long enough for citizenship eligibility -- three years is required if the resident has a U.S. citizen spouse, and five years if not.

Figures are not available for the number of the screeners at SFO who are applying for U.S. citizenship or are eligible but haven't applied but union leaders said that they will conduct a survey soon to identify the needs of immigrant screeners.

Ravel, who immigrated to the States in 1997, is one of the screeners who are still ineligible to apply for citizenship.

"I came to America because this is a good country," said Ravel before heading for another day's work at SFO from his Daily City home. "But maybe it's not as good as I believed."