AMFA Helps Sway Federal Court to Keep Drug and Alcohol Testing for Outsourced Aircraft Maintenance Workers.

AMFA Testimony: "Passengers Have Already Died"

AURORA, Colo. -- Testimony from the Aircraft Maintenance Fraternal Association (AMFA), the nation's largest union of aircraft technicians, helped persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold a Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regulation requiring all airline workers who perform safety-related functions - including employees of outsourced aircraft repair stations - to undergo periodic drug and alcohol testing.

After the federal appeals court received a friend-of-the-court letter (amicus curiae) from AMFA, the court closed a potential safety gap in the nation's airline system and thwarted a judicial campaign by the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), a trade association representing 690 outsourced repair shops, for its members to evade the added scrutiny and expense of the FAA-mandated testing. The court rejected ARSA's claim that "we do not believe the safety net needs to go beneath us."

AMFA intervened in part because it has the political will to present arguments that the FAA might find too embarrassing to make. AMFA's summary argument noted, "There has been a seismic change in airline maintenance practices. Five years ago, the major airlines directly performed the greater part of their maintenance and preventive maintenance. They do not anymore. This disturbing revolution does not just present a potential threat to safety. The quality of maintenance has already precipitously declined. Passengers have already died."

"ARSA was placing its economic self-interest above public safety," said AMFA National Safety and Standards Director Mike Ayala. "Frankly, any contractor who cannot bear the nominal cost to prevent drugged or inebriated workers from performing critical safety-related maintenance work should not be in the business."

The court's decision will have the effect of enhancing safety and neutralizing an artificial cost advantage for the outsourced repair shops.

AMFA's craft union is the largest labor organization in the airline industry representing aircraft maintenance technicians and related support personnel with over 16,000 members at carriers including Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, ATA, Horizon and Mesaba Airlines. AMFA's credo is "Safety in the air begins with Quality Maintenance on the Ground". To learn more about AMFA, visit: www.amfanational.org.