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Port Security Worker ID Checks Need to Protect Workers, Too |
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Nearly five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration is finally getting around to checking the backgrounds of the people who work at our nation’s ports (although ignoring other ways to make our ports secure). And the unions that represent port workers want to make sure the checks are fair.
Under a plan announced April 25 by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the names of about 400,000 employees who work in the nation’s ports will be matched against government terror watch lists and immigration databases. Screened port workers, along with truckers and rail employees, will have unrestricted access to ports and will be required to carry tamper-resistant identification cards by next year.
While the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents West Coast port workers, supports efforts to make our ports more secure, the union is concerned the security plan has not been completely thought through, says ILWU Communications Director Steve Stallone.
“We need to be able to balance real security with civil rights,” Stallone says. “People shouldn’t lose their jobs because of a false name on the watch list without a chance to appeal.”
The terrorist watch list is notoriously inaccurate, Stallone says, and the wrong people have been detained at airports because they had a name similar to one on the list. That’s why the union wants to include an appeals process in the plan.
Workers who carry the electronic ID cards will face a criminal background check as well, Stallone says, and that concerns the union.
“We would like to have the checks limited to crimes that might have something to do with the possibility of you committing terrorism, not just any felony,” he says. Again, that’s why there needs to be an appeals process, Stallone says. “You shouldn’t lose your job for a youthful indiscretion.” He also warns that racism could enter the background-check process, since people of color are disproportionately convicted of felonies.
Some workers already have their criminal backgrounds checked by local authorities, says Jim McNamara, spokesman for the Longshoreman (ILA) union, which represents East Coast port workers. He says the ILA welcomes steps “to secure our ports in any way possible.”
Checking workers against an immigration database could have some unintended consequences, ILWU warns. Because many of the truck drivers at the ports are immigrants, some could be undocumented. Rather than risk deportation, they may simply stop driving to the docks. Those who are documented may be afraid of being falsely targeted and stop coming as well, the union says. If that happens, then the ports could come to a standstill, Stallone says.
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