Drug and Alcohol Testing
I just got an alert from an aviation association urging me to call my member of Congress “as soon as possible” and ask that they oppose the Poe amendment when it comes up for debate today.
Here is the text of the alert:
OPPOSE POE AMENDMENT TO SHUT DOWN THIRD-PARTY REPAIR STATIONS!
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled this morning to begin debate on H.R. 2881, the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2007. During the course of the debate, several amendments will be offered by Members of Congress, including one that could essentially prevent the use of all third-party maintenance facilities overseas.
Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) will offer an amendment that would extend drug and alcohol testing requirements to all foreign repair stations. The amendment, supported by airline maintenance labor unions, is a thinly veiled attempt to eliminate competition from all foreign third-party maintenance providers on commercial aircraft abroad. The United States lacks the legal authority to impose such requirements on the citizens of foreign countries, and many nations are firmly opposed to mandatory drug and alcohol testing programs. As a result, this amendment, if approved, would effectively eliminate the ability of air carriers to obtain third-party maintenance overseas. Furthermore, the imposition of such drug and alcohol testing programs could lead to restriction on trade with other countries, significantly damaging the aviation industry in the United States.
Call your Member of Congress as soon as possible and ask that they oppose the Poe amendment when it comes up for debate today! Explain that this amendment is a backdoor attempt to restrict and shut down third-party maintenance at foreign facilities for both commercial and general aviation, and has little to do with actually improving aviation safety. There are no identified safety issues with such repair stations, and this amendment will only lead to increased maintenance costs.
Maybe it’s just me, but how is making foreign repair stations comply with the same drug and alcohol testing our domestic repair stations are required to follow by a bad thing? It’s not like we are trying to change the foreign government’s laws or sovereignty. We are just saying, “If you want to work on U.S. type-certificated aircraft, and want to receive an FAA repair station certificate, you need to have a drug and alcohol testing program in place.” No testing program, no certificate.
Instead of looking at how this amendment could potentially hurt foreign repair stations, why not consider how it will help level the playing field? Domestic repair stations need to have drug and alcohol testing in place — why shouldn’t foreign repair stations?
And finally, if performing drug and alcohol testing on mechanics who inspect, repair, and maintain our nation’s fleet of commercial aircraft has “little to do with actually improving aviation safety,” why not just do away with all drug and alcohol testing requirements?
One way or the other, isn’t it time to level the playing field?
If you want to let your voice be heard, be sure to call your representative! Let him or her know how you feel about the Poe Amendment to H.R. 2881.
To see the status of H.R. 2881, click here.
Thanks for reading!
Joe Escobar
What do you want to bet that the association opposing this amendment was an air carrier group? It certainly wasn’t ARSA, an organization of AMERICAN Repair Stations! You’re right on target with this one, Joe. Doing something that helps U.S. AMTs is not a bad thing, and you shouldn’t be the Lone Ranger on this issue.
I’ve sent an email to my Senator and congressperson asking that Poe be further amended to include pre-employment criminal background checks, too. A level playing field is a good thing. If it increases maintenance costs that much, where was the ATA when these requirements were imposed on domestic repair stations?
Here’s the text of the email sent to my congressional representative today. Feel free to cut and paste for use in your own message. This may be the most important thing you do for your fellow AMTs this year.
“Dear Congressman,
I read today that Congressman Poe of Texas has introduced an amendment to HR 2881, the Transportation Reauthorization Bill. The Poe Amendment would require all FAA-Certificated Foreign Repair Stations to abide by the same drug and alcohol screening requirements as domestic repair facilities. This is being cynically opposed by the Air Transportation Association to the detriment of their own employees and the domestic third-party maintenance organizations. American workers have lost thousands of jobs becauseof the tilted playing field the foreign repair stations have unjustly enjoyed for many years. I urge you to support and even co-sponsor the Poe Amendment as all it does is give Americans a fighting chance to bid on American work that otherwise may be outsourced overseas. I further ask that you consider a further amendment that woul extend the same requirements for pre-employment criminal background checks. To those who would urge you to move in the opposite direction, one might ask why they want to dscriminate against Americans? Thanks for your usual kind attention to my concerns.
Sincerely,
XXXXX XXXXX, FAA Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic #NNNNNN
As an update — the Helicopter Association International (HAI) reports that H.R. 2881 passed by a vote of 257 to 151. In the alert, HAI announces that, “The House also adopted by voice vote an amendment by Republican Congressman Ted Poe that would require foreign aircraft repair stations to subject their employees to drug and alcohol testing, as is the case for domestic aircraft mechanics.”
We will continue to cover the FAA reauthorization as it develops to keep our readers informed.
Joe Escobar
right on. if 3rd worls countries are going reap the finacial rewards of our loss of maintence jobs they need to play by the same rules.
Howie click on this web site http://www.arsa.org/node/429
Now we need to watch the Senate to make sure they don’t remove amendment 3 as they debate and amend the bill. It has made it through the House and here is the link of the bill’s progress so far http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2881
With fuel price escalation and this, do you think you will be able to afford to fly on an AMT salary? Can’t anybody see past their own reflection when looking out the window? When only the few can afford to fly, what will your AMT Cert. be worth?
What’s unfortunate is- since an A&P certificate is not required to work on aircraft in the U.S. repair station environment, we can’t legitimately press for international repair stations to employ technicians with a level of mechanical and regulatory competency at least equal to a U.S. A&P certificate.
Through our own regulatory processes we have cheapened the value of an A&P certificate to a minimum wage employment opportunity for the American worker.
Just my .02
Third party repair stations who want to perform work for US Carriers should be willing to meet the FAA requirements for drug and alcohol testing, otherwise they should not even be allowed to bid for that work.
That article at the top must have come from the same folks that have been having an AMT shortage for the past thirty years.
Plz reply with use full information, i have brother having Alcohol addiction from last 7 years. He is suffering to much…does any one know about alcoholism treatment center or Christian alcoholism treatment
drug addiction testing may enable people to know how much they are affected by drug.
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Brook
Alcohol Rehab
Addictive drugs also include a large number of substrates that are currently considered to have no medical value and are not available over the counter or by prescription.
An article in The Lancet compared the harm and addiction of 20 drugs, using a scale from 0 to 3 for physical addiction, psychological addiction, and pleasure to create a mean score for addiction. Caffeine was not included in the study. The results can be seen in the chart above.
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Dx
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