Fri, Apr 04, 2008
Hoffa Thanks T&I Chairman For Efforts
Teamsters General President Jim
Hoffa on Thursday said Transportation Committee Chairman Jim
Oberstar deserves praise for exposing lax inspection practices
within the Federal Aviation Administration.
As ANN reported, Oberstar
(D-MN) has led the effort to expose the possibly too-cozy
relationship between FAA inspectors and airline management. On
Thursday, he questioned under oath three FAA inspectors who were
punished for trying to expose Southwest Airlines' failure to
perform required inspections.
"The flying public owes Chairman Oberstar a debt of gratitude,"
Hoffa said. "For too long, there has been collusion and abuse in
airline safety oversight. By bringing forward these whistleblowers,
Chairman Oberstar brought into the light a practice that had been
in the dark too long."
Since Southwest Airlines' lapsed inspections were exposed, the
FAA has ordered an audit of the airline industry's compliance with
its safety directives. Hundreds of MD-80s at Delta Air Lines and
American Airlines were grounded to check wiring, and United
Airlines has had to check Boeing 747s and 777s because of
inspection and testing issues.
"Chairman Oberstar is correct when he identifies safety as the
relative absence of risk," Hoffa said. "The Teamsters stand behind
him 100 percent."
A key concern for the Teamsters is the growing practice of
outsourcing aviation repairs to foreign repair stations. The
Teamsters are concerned that the FAA does not hold overseas
maintenance facilities to the same standards as domestic
The Teamsters advocate one standard governing the operations of
airline-owned maintenance facilities and domestic U.S. and foreign
repair facilities.
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