“It’s up to the FAA to close loopholes in air
safety regulations that incentivize US airlines
to outsource aircraft maintenance overseas,”
said Pantoja. “We strongly urge the FAA to adopt
the changes offered by the IAM.” In a
letter Pantoja submitted to Michael Huerta, FAA
Acting Administrator in response to the Federal
Aviation Administration's (FAA) Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which seeks to reform
the rules governing aircraft repair stations
certified under Part 145. Patoja stated that for
more than 25 years the IAM has been a vocal
critic of federal repair station regulations for
two main reasons; they create dangerous
incentives for U.S. air carriers to outsource
maintenance to poorly regulated facilities
abroad that fail to meet the same rigid FAA
safety requirements imposed on work performed on
U.S. soil; and they have resulted in
the loss of thousands of high-skill, middle
class U.S. mechanic jobs at most U.S. airlines.
Pantoya further stated that IAM agrees with the
FAA that it is time to upgrade current
regulations to reflect the reality of today's
marketplace where more than 70 percent of
aircraft heavy maintenance is outsourced and
more than one-fourth farmed-out overseas. A
byproduct of this stunning growth in outsourcing
has been the increased use of non-certified
repair facilities that often evade the FAA's
inspection and oversight regime.
IAM is concerned that the current NPRM fails to
require mechanics at foreign repair stations to
undergo drug and alcohol testing as mandated in
section 308(d) of the FAA reauthorization signed
into law earlier this year. However, in the NPRM
it mandates that the FAA issue a proposed rule
to implement the new drug and alcohol
requirement within one year of enactment. IAM
sees this as a double standard in federal
regulations that has forced mechanics in America
to operate under completely different rules than
those who work overseas. This is not only a
critical safety loophole that must be closed,
but it has also forced U.S. airline mechanics to
compete on an un-level playing field.
|