OIA delays plan to replace TSA with private company

Orlando’s airport authority decided Wednesday to delay by two months launching efforts to replace hundreds of TSA officers with privately employed screeners.

Initially moving toward an immediate start to replacement proceedings, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority instead voted to have airport leaders press Congress and TSA to find ways to lessen wait times at the airport’s security checkpoints.

If those deliberations fail, then the airport authority would begin work as soon as April on a formal application for the lengthy transition from federal screeners to those of a private firm.

Making the sole vote against Wednesday’s measure, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said

the meeting, which amounted to a dressing down of TSA management, was a clear signal to TSA that it needs to improve its performance.

TSA contends the airport does not have enough space to efficiently handle the volume of passengers who must be screened. Airport authorities responded Wednesday that TSA does not recognize and react well to the ebb and flow of passengers as a result of weather, seasonal travel and popular events, such as conventions and the Daytona 500 Sunday.

“I think issues were raised that needed to be raised, and we don’t need to put the employees who we all agree have done a good job in the line of fire on this,” said Dyer, who noted earlier in the meeting that he couldn’t recall previously voting against an airport recommendation. Dyer had urged tabling the matter entirely in order to put TSA workers more at ease about their jobs, while airport authorities sought assurances from TSA’s leaders that they would solve increasing wait times at Orlando International.

Of the six board members who voted in favor of the twomonth delay, five are appointees of Gov. Rick Scott and the other is Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.

Jacobs said she was comfortable with giving airport officials a two-month window to come to terms with TSA’s leadership.

She added, however, that she is not now leaning toward the further step of approving an airport application to oust TSA’s federal screeners.

“I did not hear a compelling argument that we need to change,” Jacobs said. “It sounds like there is room for improvement with management, and I hope that we use this time, these 30 to 60 days, to get that point across loud and clear.”

Airport authority meetings ordinarily are brief and without drama. The gathering Wednesday was heavily attended by TSA screeners, with many coming from or about to go to their station shifts a few dozen feet away in the terminal’s east end.

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee urged the airport not to replace TSA workers.

“I believe the real solution is in TSA resources and reforms rather than privatization,” Soto said. “If it is a TSA management problem, then we need to clearly communicate that to the congressional delegation, and maybe we can clean house.”

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando, told the authority that the congresswoman opposed a switch.

San Francisco has the only large airport with private screeners, an arrangement set up when TSA was established after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

As the nation’s 13th-largest airport, Orlando International would be the only large airport in the U.S. to oust a TSA workforce.

“We urge you to keep TSA screeners in place,” said Heather Morse, speaking for the Association of Flight Attendants, a labor union.

One after another, TSA officers addressed the airport authority board, stressing that a private firm would offer significantly lower pay and benefits, and not perform as well as federal screeners.

“I don’t think it would be a workforce that you would be happy with,” TSA screener Ivan Hernandez said, warning the authority not to opt for private workers.

No one from the crowded audience spoke in favor of private screeners.

The initiative was formally proposed this week by airport director Phil Brown, who gave a presentation asserting that wait times for travelers are getting worse and are beginning to degrade public opinion about the airport.

Initially poised for a vote was a call to move forward immediately with an application, which could take months to complete and would involve the airport authority recommending a private firm.

“I want them to know that I am dead serious,” said Frank Kruppenbacher, the airport authority chairman.

Once submitted, TSA would have 120 days to review the application and another 12 months to hire a private firm. The transition of removing federal workers and getting private staffers up to speed would take as much as six months.

After the meeting, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said her agency “communicates on a consistent and continuing basis” to meet airport needs.