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Face of security changes
By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Women and minorities are having a difficult time getting new airport security screening jobs, and the problem is more pronounced at Tampa International Airport than in the rest of the country. Of the 40,000 screeners hired nationwide since the federal government took over airport security, about 66 percent are male, and about 34 percent are female. Of 740 screeners at TIA, nearly 70 percent are men, and 30 percent are women. The federal Transportation Security Administration did not set specific gender or racial goals in hiring when it began replacing screeners who worked for contracted security agencies earlier this year. But officials did hope for a nearly even split among men and women because of a policy against allowing men to search women passengers and vice versa. That equal split hasn't happened, and the problem reflects flaws in the initial application process as well as possibly unintended biases in the law that sets out the standards that federal screeners must meet, some say. "I don't know why the percentages are the way they are," said Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman in Washington for the TSA. "We have a higher percentage of women and minorities in the TSA workforce than in the U.S. workforce as a whole. We are looking for high-quality, patriotic citizens that reflect the community where they work." When the federal screeners began work at TIA in August, the TSA's local security director, Dario Compain, disclosed that one of the questions on the job application had unintentionally eliminated women and older men from consideration. The question asked if applicants were registered with the Selective Service System. A "no" response -- which included all women and anyone born before Jan. 1, 1960 -- automatically disqualified the applicant. "We are changing the question to fix the problem, and anyone who fell into that situation can reapply," Compain said at the time. The yes-or-no question now reads: "I am registered with the Selective Service System, or I have a valid exemption from registration. (NOTE: If you are female, answer 'Yes' to this question. Also answer 'Yes' to this question if you are male or female and were born before Dec. 31, 1959.)" Current federal law requires all men born on or after that date to register with Selective Service. Yet the fix has not made a big difference in the workforce, in part because the contract screeners, among whom minorities were heavily represented, have had a tough time getting the new federal jobs. Nationally, 38 percent of federal screeners are minorities. At TIA, it is 27 percent. Only in its percentage of Hispanics does TIA rate better than the national average. There are no overall figures for minority representation among screeners before the federal takeover. "It's the case all over the country that minority and foreign screeners, who dominated the workforce before this year, can't meet the new standards," said Robert Masciola, a researcher with the Service Employees International Union in Washington. Nationally, 58 percent of screeners are white, 22 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic, 4 percent Asian/Pacific, and 1 percent Indian/Alaskan. The rest are listed as other or unspecified. At Tampa International Airport, 67 percent of the federal screeners are white, less than 12 percent black, 14.5 percent Hispanic, and .01 percent Indian/Alaskan or Asian/Pacific. "At LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), over 100 of the old screeners took the TSA test and every single one of them failed," Masciola said. "In Seattle, the old screeners were given very intensive literacy training, and only one-third of them got through the first round of testing." Masciola said the union had pressed for years to have the screener positions upgraded in terms of training and pay, but the jobs remained low-skill, largely minimum-wage slots until after last year's terrorist attacks. When the positions were upgraded -- now they pay $23,600 to $35,400 with benefits -- Congress required that those hired be U.S. citizens, speak English and have either a high school diploma or a GED equivalency, or a year's experience in screening and X-ray security work. These requirements exceed even those for people who want to serve in the military. More than 30,000 noncitizens serve in various branches of the U.S. armed forces. None of those personnel would qualify to be airport screeners. The service employees union has a measure pending in the Senate -- sponsored by Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., among others -- that would open the screener jobs to legal aliens who are permanent residents of the United States. But the bill is not likely to pass so late in the current session of Congress. To date, TSA has placed federal screeners in 157 of the nation's 429 commercial airports. The rollout has a deadline of Nov. 19.
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