Under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, signed by President George Bush last November, the 28,000 baggage screeners at airports across the country are about to lose their jobs. Currently employed by contractors, mostly for low wages, some will be rehired under federal jurisdiction. The law stipulates that all baggage screeners must be U.S. citizens by Nov. 19, 2002. Nationwide about 15 percent to 25 percent of the screeners are noncitizens. At the San Francisco airport, 80 percent of the more than 1,000 people employed as screeners are noncitizens. The majority are Filipinos.

This issue was the topic of discussion at an April 21 meeting held in San Francisco titled "Justice for Immigrant Airport Security Screeners and Safety for Passengers." Sponsored by the Bay Area Organizing Committee, the meeting drew 800 people.

Among those introduced at the event were the mayors of San Francisco, South San Francisco, and Daly City; representatives of the governor’s office and state government agencies such as the Employment Development Department; the leaders of several churches; and representatives of unions including locals of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, Service Employees International Union, and the Teamsters.

Although the speakers defended the airport screeners’ right to their jobs, they accepted the framework that the "flying public" must be protected by "experienced" screeners who are also U.S. citizens.

To justify its attacks, the government has worked overtime to flood the media with stories portraying these immigrant workers as incompetent and as susceptible to aiding terrorist attacks. A recent report by the inspector general of the Transportation Department Kenneth Mead claimed that tests in several airports around the country found that the screeners overlooked knives 70 percent of the time, guns 30 percent, and simulated explosives 6 times out of 10.

The security checks at airports are not aimed at stopping contraband or terrorists; rather, they are designed to get working people used to the militarization of everyday life. This includes the deployment of 8,000 National Guard troops nationwide at 435 airports. In California, 800 guards patrol the 30 airports statewide.

Speakers at the meeting presented a number of proposals. They urged that priority be given to hiring those among the present screeners who are U.S. citizens; that the processing of citizenship applications of present-day screeners who are not citizens be expedited; and that legal permanent residents who have sworn that they intend to become U.S. citizens be hired as "provisional" employees. The government, they said, should provide funding for job training for those who don’t fit into these categories.

The several dozen screeners present read a pledge "to work for the safety and security of all people" and promised "allegiance to the people of the United States of America."

The attacks upon airport workers are part of the U.S. rulers’ assault on the living and working conditions and rights of all working people. The aim of these actions is not to protect the public, but to use the "fight against terrorism" to attack workers’ rights and weaken the labor movement.

In early May, Homeland Security director Thomas Ridge disclosed that plans are under review by the Bush administration to link the expiration dates of visas and drivers’ licenses assigned to immigrants. The measure would establish computer links between state departments of motor vehicles and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), enabling the sharing of immigration records.

Several congressman have also recently submitted legislation to standardize state-issued drivers’ licenses across the United States--a step toward a national ID card.  
 
INS airport sweep
In the month of March alone the INS arrested more than 250 airport workers nationwide on immigration charges. Another 140 were detained recently in Washington, D.C. They were working for private companies as food handlers, janitors, luggage loaders and other service employees.

The INS sweep of airport workers is part of "Operation Tarmac," which was launched a few weeks after the events of September 11. Under this operation, the immigration and criminal records of all airport contract workers have been reviewed. Some of the 212 people arrested by March 27 were permanent residents with felony criminal convictions, while others have been accused of using fake birth dates and social security numbers on job applications. Some were deported and others were convicted of immigration violations. At least 12 face federal prosecution for document fraud or related offenses. INS officials have admitted that none of those rounded up have any links to "terrorist" groups.

Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for the INS, asserted, "The idea is to help ensure the safety of the traveling public." She added, "These are people that don’t have a legal right to live or work in the United States. They might be compromised because of immigration problems they have."

This INS operation comes on top of the FBI background check of all airline employees’ records. The federal cops’ search for felony convictions within the past 10 years has also resulted in firings.

Such snooping operations are aimed at weakening the entire working class, an increasing section of which is comprised of immigrants.

A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center reports that almost a quarter of those working in private households in this country are undocumented, along with half the country’s farm workers and 9 percent of restaurant employees. The study estimated that there are 5.3 million undocumented workers in the United States today.

The U.S. ruling class is not trying to get rid of these workers and other immigrants. On the contrary, the capitalists need them to work in their fields and factories. What they aim to do is to permit them fewer rights and to impose second-class status on them, to keep them vulnerable to being superexploited. This divide-and-rule approach weakens the union movement as a whole and should be fought by all workers.

This is why we need to demand equal rights for immigrants and to reject the idea that citizenship should be a requirement in any workplace. Struggles like that of the workers fighting for a driver’s license for all help to point the way forward.

The labor movement must wage a fight to defend the rights of all workers, whether U.S.-born or not; we must demand a reduction in the workweek without cuts in pay, and an increase in the minimum wage to union scale. Ultimately, workers and farmers need to take power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers, and establish a workers and farmers government that will put human needs before profits.

Rollande Girard is a garment worker at Ben Davis in San Francisco.  
 
 
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