the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 24, 2001
The airlines say they need far more security to prevent another terrorist attack.
So what are they doing? They say they are going to lay off 100,000 workers. More security means more people, not fewer!
More skycaps who can be less rushed to handle luggage and therefore more alert to problems.
More ticket agents who will not feel the pressure of a hundred people in line, and can take more time scanning passengers’ tickets.
More workers with more time to clean the planes, and so, more time to question anything out of place. More baggage handlers, more ramp workers, more mechanics so the servicing of planes is not carried out in such a frenzied way.
Not to mention more mechanics and pilots so that the planes themselves are safe. We shouldn’t forget that far more people have been killed in plane crashes than in terrorist attacks on planes.
If the airlines were serious about security, they would not be laying off. Because you don’t plug security holes by making 100,000 more personnel holes. They would instead use this lull in traffic to reorganize all the work. They would add workers everywhere, to end what overwork and understaffing have created.
If they were serious.