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446626 |
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Date: March 05, 2025 at 03:14:38
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: DOGE fired essential FAA employees without assessment |
URL: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5175443-faa-essential-employees-fired/ |
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FAA union president says DOGE fired essential employees without assessment
BY AILIA ZEHRA - 03/04/25 2:54 PM ET
Dave Spero, the president of a union representing employees of the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), said at a Tuesday hearing that the Department of
Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired essential employees without accounting
for the impact their departure would have on the agency’s functions.
Spero, who heads the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, made the
remarks in response to a question from Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who asked
about connections between the firings and air safety at a hearing before the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation.
Spero said that only three out of the 332 FAA employees who were terminated
in the recent mass firings have been brought back, and no other hires have
been made to fill the positions vacated after the firings.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously said people in “critical safety
positions” were kept at the FAA and that the only people dismissed were those
who had been working there for less than a year.
Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association,
told the subcommittee that no air traffic controllers were fired during the recent
cuts, but he added that aviation safety professionals who were let go were “all
essentials.”
Daniels said that they were evaluating impacts to safety and making training
advancements, but he cautioned these efforts could be disrupted due to a
potential government shutdown later this month.
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“We continue to evaluate the impacts to safety and we will make sure we raise
them to this committee as appropriate,” Daniels said.
When asked by Cohen if tech billionaire Elon Musk “or someone like him”
should have control over the FFA’s functions and if privatization would resolve
the agency’s challenges, Spero said the three key things the agency needs are
predictable funding, long-term planning and faster deployment.
“Privatization is not the solution to those problems,” he said, adding that finding
ways to expedite the system and not having government shutdowns will help
the agency perform well.
The hearing comes just over a month after the crash of a military helicopter and
American Airlines passenger plane that claimed more than 60 lives near Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport.
President Trump and his administration responded to the collision by calling for
an overhaul of air traffic control and the FAA.
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Responses:
[446636] |
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446636 |
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Date: March 05, 2025 at 08:54:45
From: Redhart, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: DOGE fired essential FAA employees without assessment |
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It's clear Elon and his "boys" have no clue what they
are doing.
Doing it at twitter is one thing...no one dies if they
screw up.
Doing it with a government with life and death systems
for millions, quite another thing.
The insanity and stupidity (as well as illegality) of
what they're doing is simply mind-boggling.
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Responses:
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