Unions praise inclusion of cabin crew in new US security screening

August 2, 2012

A coalition of unions in the US has applauded the inclusion of all US-based cabin crew into a new security programme.

The Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, representing almost 90,000 cabin crew workers in the US, has praised the inclusion of cabin crew workers in the known crewmember (KCM) programme. The security screening system had initially only included airline pilots, but union lobbying led to an agreement by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a US government department responsible for transport security, to extend the scheme to cabin crew staff.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Association of Professional Flight Attendants, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Transport Workers’ Union issued a joint statement on 23 July. In it, the unions said: “Including Flight Attendants in KCM has many benefits. For flight attendants, it is recognition of our important role as first responders and as integral members of a security team charged with ensuring the safety of air transportation. Reporting to work with procedures that support our role is paramount. For the TSA, alternate screening allows resources to be focused more on improving security through risk-based screening. For the traveling public, KCM will reduce the number of individuals passing through TSA passenger checkpoints and will remove obstacles to the timely arrival of crewmembers reporting for duty at the aircraft.”

The expedited screening programme could come into force as early as the autumn of 2012.