A Big Fraud...

[Blastor]

Speed trumps safety at Pearson, workers say
Screeners pressed to move lines quickly, so some passengers board without proper checks, employees say

ALEX DOBROTA

From Monday's Globe and Mail

July 16, 2007 at 3:16 AM EDT

Security at Canada's biggest airport has been repeatedly compromised by a private operator trying to speed passengers through screening, The Globe and Mail has been told.

Screening officers employed by Garda World Security Corp., which holds the contract to check passengers at Toronto's Pearson International and 27 other airports, said in interviews that Garda managers have threatened to fire screeners who did not move travellers through security at Pearson quickly enough and have on occasion taken over screening themselves.

This resulted in passengers and luggage boarding planes without being properly checked, the officers said.

A senior Garda official assured the Globe that security has "at no time" been compromised at Pearson airport and dismissed the allegations as claims from disgruntled employees.

But an internal Garda document obtained by the Globe says one passenger completely circumvented screening in April by walking through an unmanned security gate. Managers were aware that the man had bypassed security but did not follow usual procedure and ground the plane, officers told the Globe.

Another Garda document shows that an employee who lacked proper certification worked for more than one year screening passengers for U.S.-bound flights before he was suspended in March.

In the latest reported security breach at Pearson, more than 1,000 passengers on eight flights were delayed during the July 7-8 weekend after knives and other sharp objects were found on travellers preparing to board an Air India flight. The knives were discovered at a second checkpoint run by the airline.

During the holiday rush last Christmas, some Garda managers took over line operation from the screening officers to clear the long lineups of passengers, the officers told the Globe.

In the process, many pieces of carry-on luggage passed through the checkpoints without being properly examined, said the Garda employees, who spoke under condition of anonymity, saying that they fear sanctions by their employer.

"Their concern is not security," one officer told the Globe. "They just want to clear the rush."

The officers interviewed by the Globe said the security breaches occurred in a working environment where screening officers are afraid to perform security checks properly.

"People are so scared now, because every time they try to do their job, the company [sees] things are slowing down and then they get screwed," another screening officer said. "That's why they're scared to do their job now, because of the intimidation."

Garda senior vice-president Allan Bentley insisted in an interview that security was "at no time" compromised at Pearson airport. He qualified the officers interviewed by the Globe as disgruntled employees.

When asked about specific company documents, such as one describing the passenger who walked past security in April, Mr. Bentley refused to comment, saying: "I don't recall that specific event."

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, a Crown corporation created in 2002 to assume a direct federal role directing aviation security, awarded Garda the Pearson contract in 2004. CATSA was not previously aware of the December incident or of the employee screening passengers without certification, spokeswoman Brigitte Caron said.

Ms. Caron said the federal agency has been made aware of the man who completely circumvented security in April and said several steps have been taken to prevent such breaches from happening again, such as placing barriers before unmanned security gates.

Transport Canada, the federal department that oversees CATSA, has completed an investigation into reports that Garda managers let several pieces of luggage pass unchecked when they allegedly intervened to speed up screening at Pearson last October. The Transport Canada report was completed in February but will remain secret for "security reasons," said Natalie Sarafian, a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon.

Mr. Cannon has rejected a request from a Liberal MP for a wider investigation into the work environment at Pearson, where several screening officers are mired in a labour dispute with both Garda and the union supposed to represent them.

Screening officers have complained to the Ontario Labour Board that they were forced under threats by Garda managers to speed up the screening process and claimed that their union local, which was placed under trusteeship by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters last year, has done little to support them.

The Ontario Labour Board is to issue a ruling on the complaint soon.

A CATSA memo to screeners obtained by the Globe suggests that airlines and airport authorities have asked the federal agency to streamline passenger screening.

"In Canada, throughput runs approximately 120 [passengers] an hour during peak time," says the memo, addressed to airport screening officers. "This is far below what is being done in most countries."

A spokeswoman for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority would not comment on whether the airport has asked CATSA to streamline security. "The bottom line for us is that we're interested in efficiently moving people through the terminal," spokeswoman Lorrie McKee said.

Mr. Bentley of Garda said the company has never been pressured by CATSA to speed up screening.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, a vocal critic of airport security, said he was troubled to hear about the latest breaches. "It could have been an organized way to bring weapons into the system," Mr. Kenny said of the man who circumvented screening procedures.

Mr. Kenny, who heads the Senate committee on national security and defence, believes the federal government should wrest control of airport security from Transport Canada and assign it to the RCMP. This would place security considerations, such as the speed of screening operations, out of the sphere of influence of airlines and airports, the Ontario senator said.

"It's a lot harder to push around a Mountie than it is to push around somebody from Transport Canada," he said.

What is CATSA?

Until Sept. 11, 2001, screening Canadian air travellers was understood to be the responsibility of airline companies and airport operators.

In April, 2002, the federal government created the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to take over and centralize management of security operations at airports. The new Crown corporation was to be funded through a $12 surcharge on each ticket departing from Canada.

The corporation, which reports to Parliament through the Minister of Transportation, oversees 89 airports which screened 39 million people in the year ending March 31, 2006. In that year CATSA received $425-million in parliamentary appropriations.

CATSA started reimbursing airlines for their screening costs in 2002. In January, 2003, it took control of airport security but has hired contractors, mostly private security companies, to screen passengers. There are nine private operators in all, as well as two airline companies and one municipal authority that handle their own screening.

Among the contractors, Montreal-based Garda World Security Corp. has landed the most contracts. It manages screening at 28 airports, including Toronto's Pearson International, Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Calgary International.

The company, traded publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange, landed its first major airport contract in 2004, for Pearson. Garda has grown rapidly in recent years; it employs 50,000 people the world over and more than 8,000 in Canada.

Other security companies hired by CATSA include Aeroguard Inc., which manages screening at 24 airports, and Shannahan's Investigation and Security Ltd., which checks passengers at 16 airports.

In northern Quebec, Air Creebec and Air Inuit both ensure security at four airports. The City of Lloydminster manages security and screening at Lloydminster Airport in Alberta.

[Warrior 77]

I now fear when I am travelling, this employer must be removed along with the Union. Teamsters is the worst union in the world anyway.

Give the employees a medal for standing up to the big bad Garda.

Allan Bentley is a con man.

RCMP should take over

[Warrior 77]

NEW ARTICLE IN THE GLOBE AND MAIL AUG 23, 2007 and Aug 25, 2007

[JustVisiting]

Do tell.