TSA pat downs: 'Horrible' screener job gets worse

reply to post by ProvehitoInAltum


I agree with you. I am in no way in agrence with the policies at hand. I will not fly, I made that decision years ago though when they got crazy with all the baggage stuff.


The anger though is directed at the wrong people. Right now jobs are hard to come by. Good income is even harder to find. Some might be able to just walk away without any issues but not everyone can. I would love to walk away from my job, but that is not in the cards unless I get something else.

Maybe the plan of TPTB all along was to cripple the economy so badly that people would take any job offered to them, even if it meant imposing on fellow citizens.

Raist

reply to post by DrMattMaddix




I am going to have to use that line on my wife now.

"Sorry honey, but you have to submit to these searches for your own safety.”

Thanks for the idea and the laugh we can have together about this.

Raist

Originally posted by RedBird
OP has a point. Don't demonize the TSA employees. Articles and tirades characterizing them all as pedophiles and power tripping sociopaths address little and solve nothing.

The POLICIES are what need to be challenged. And these are determined by lawmakers. It is the representatives in Congress, and their corporate leash holders on Wall St. who hold the responsibility for this monstrosity.

Don't let the MSM distract you from the real problem.

This whole TSA debacle is a massive misdirection campaign designed to distract from the monetary and fiscal policies under consideration by the current batch of criminals in government.

HAHAHHA you go from "One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, baby" regarding the TSA (a gov't org.) to
to referring to "that batch of criminals in gov't" in virtually the same breath. What batch of criminals in what part of gov't are to be excused for criminal behavior?

This is referred to as mental f'ing RETARD!

They are who they are ... Pick flycrap outta pepper.

The gov't f'ing blows as they are and they know it. They are ALL criminal.

I've quit two jobs over CORP. criminality (and their (lack of) ethics and more etc.)

There isn't a free pass. They (gov't) are all criminal by association.

There are legal charges that can be filed under just such circumstances.

Accessory charges... etc... So, yeah. They too are criminal.

Just doing your job doesn't void criminality... ref: Germany 1939-1945

reply to post by Raist


That could be possible. Clearly there is something in play here that has the TSA muckity mucks turning up the heat on the pressure cooker we're trapped in. I'm to the point where I will not fly except in case of emergency.

Have some TSA workers gotten out of line and acted in a horrendous manner? Yes, they clearly have. However, what percentage of the screeners are acting inappriately in contrast to how many are are not. Just throwing out a guess, I would say maybe it's 10% bad apples, and that may be an exagerration. The other 90% of good apples in the barrel shouldn't be abused anymore than we should!

I also wonder how much of that perfentage of bad apples are actually the undertrained part timers as opposed to full timers? I have the feeling most of my dealings with TSA screeners at O'Hare has been with full timers, because I've traveled enough in the last few years (and have a distinct enough 'look', or should I say ink) that I've had several screeners remember me, and vice versa from month to month. Some of them are good guys.

ETA: Actually now that I think about it, I have been held up by TSA a few times at O'Hare, but it's always been because of honest interest in the meaning of one of my tattoos. I've had four different screeners this year say "Wow that is a really cool tattoo, what does it mean?"

Sorry, I don't feel sorry for the TSA screeners. They are being used as tools to do a job which violates their fellow Americans' privacy and Constitutional rights. What's the old saying, Ignorance of the Law is no Defence?

If these screeners were unified and protested (such as organizing a work stoppage), demanding these hellacious policies to change, then I would have respect for them. Until then, they are just as complicit in this scam as the garbage who signs their paychecks.


"From a mental stand point though I think grabbing around on other people all day could begin to affect an individual. I wonder how this is affecting many of the officers mental health, putting them on edge and ready to break?"

I am more concerned about the children and old ladies who are being groped than those doing the groping. What kind of long term damage is that inflicting to their mental health? All for what? Some phony war on terror that some treasonous NeoCon Zionist corporate scum perpetuated and continues to perpetuate?


"Many had the job before there was a policy for “fondling” people."

Just like 9/11, the formation of the TSA was one big giant scam from the very start to defraud Americans of their tax dollars and Constitutional rights. If these TSA employees are too stupid to see that they are being manipulated to create profits for a bunch of treasonous government/corporate creeps, I have no pity for them. And all at the taxpayers expense, of course. This renders the argument of when the fondling policy was created completely irrelevant.


"It is easy to attack the low man on the “totem pole” so to speak, but few go after the top people and the policies they have written."

Don't you think at some point it is the responsibility of the low man on the totem pole to stand up to the dirtbag on top and say enough is enough? Instead, the TSA employees feel people up and wash their hands of the situation. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.


"Why go after the real problem, when we can just give another American trying to feed their family a beat down."

We are trying to go after the real problem, which are the Butchs, the Jerkoffs and the Pissholes who are wrongfully implementing and profiting from these unconstitutional fear mongering policies. The problem is without support from the little guy at the TSA, taking theses lowlifes down is virtually impossible. Can you understand the average American's frustration and why he feels the TSA employees are not on his side and have let him down?

This issue has a lot more to do than just a one minute intrusive pat down. It has to do with the betrayal of your fellow citizen (in this case, the TSA screener) and his epic failure to stand up and fight for your basic human and constitutional rights. This is the message the average American is trying to send. Needless to say, it is falling upon deaf ears.

Unfortunately, without the lower level TSA employee on board, it is virtually impossible for Americans to fight the monster. The point here is to starve the monster, not feed it. Instead of feeling people's balls, these TSA employees need to stand up and show some balls.

reply to post by SphinxMontreal


What you are effectively saying is that because of some bad policies and a few bad people all of them should just stop doing their job and just not worry about feeding their families?

Am I to assume then that you will feed their families and provide them with income when they stop doing their job?

By that same logic because there are some stupid laws and some bad cops all police should just step down and not do their jobs either. Same goes for school teachers and many other careers.

The sad truth is we all have to find small ways to compromise with something’s we are not comfortable with in order to survive. That is the world they have created for us because our own greed has led them to create this world for us.

No I do not think we should be going after the common worker here. It is the legislators and those running the show that we should be having the problem with. These TSA officers are doing their part and speaking out against it. But they cannot just up and leave a paying job that put food in their families mouths.

How many here can just up and stop feeding their families because they do not agree with everything that takes place in their job?

Raist

Okay a question to those who say that TSA workers should just immediatly quit.

We are all well aware that many Americans these days literally live paycheck to paycheck. Additionally we now know that their salaries are quite low, especially once one factors in that part of that money is immediatly withheld for taxes, and a further $6000 of that (as per the article) goes towards their poor health insurance.

Let's add to that equation: children that you are directly responsible for providing for: food, clothing, health care, and school supplies. At the bare minimun. Not to mention a roof over their head, and electric and heat to keep them warm and alive. What if that female TSA screener is a single mother (as there are many of in this country today) and this is the only income this family has. You're very disturbed by what is going on, but you know if you immediatly quit on principle, that your child is going to go without one or more or maybe all of the necessities for their well being listed above.

Do you quit on your principles, or do you think first of your child?

Pshh.. 14 dollars an hour is bad pay? I'm working for g4s/Wackenhut security now and when I was security guarding the entrance to the alky units at the large oil refinery here I was only making 10.25. If someone put a bomb in there it would take out around 20,000 people here.
Minimum here in Ky is 7.25 and two or three years ago it was 5.25. I don't see how people make it in this world.

It's a job and anyone who complains about having a job right now should go without one for at least 3mths so they will appreciate having one. I would LOVE to find a job that pays right now. I can't find a job to save my life and I have one but Im an independent contractor. I go home after 7hrs or 14hrs with nothing at times or I go home with 20 bucks. NOT fun. I would gladly work for the TSA and get paid. People who have jobs should just keep quiet and be thankful they have one.

I literally flew yesterday with Jetblue. NO PROBLEMS. This is a stupid fake issue to distract people from anything real.

Everyone on this forum claims to be intersted in the truth, correct? Then why are you acting like chickens with your heads cut off when people pat you down. Civil liberties? Wouldn't that just be a great distraction? Eventually they will lighten up with the pat downs and VOILA five months have passed.

Originally posted by Exuberant1

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by Exuberant1

 

Are you ready to give up your income so quick and leave your family in the cold?

I wouldn't have gotten myself into such a situation where my family was dependent on a job which required I fondle/molest/search people.

It just wouldn't happen.

*Most people are like me. Most people have avoided putting themselves in such a situation.

Others aren't so fortunate, they have to take whatever is available. As another poster has said, the real issue is those at the top who are legislating this violation. They are the ones to remain focused on.

I personally think an internet list similar to the sex offender registry should be created to shame TSA agents. Your kid wants to spend the night with a friend whose parent is TSA nope sorry not comfortable with that ( I'm really and truly not). A TSA agent comes in to your barber shop wanting a haircut "sorry gotta feel your balls first". The fact that the only job you have infringes on my privacy and human rights is not my problem. If you'll gladly feel me up to keep your job you gladly lead me into a concentration camp for national security.

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by Exuberant1

 

Many had the job before there was a policy for “fondling” people.

With the employment rates as they are and the economy as it is you want people to just walk away from a job that feeds their family?

Are you ready to give up your income so quick and leave your family in the cold?

It is highly possible some are only holding onto the job until they can find another place to go.

Raist

I worked in that field for years (not TSA, but armed security in various capacities). I can tell you right off the bat that had my employer required this sort of action me, indiscriminate and without the use of any common sense at all, just because "The Book" said so, I would have handed those thing belonging to my employer (my badge, gun, and uniform) over to him and walked away whistling.

I know that for fact, having done so after having worked for one employer for 13 years, and over a matter unrelated to this lunacy, but still of enough import that I couldn't justify continued employment there. I was out of that line of work for 18 months. In my case, it was the fact that the company had been bought out by foreign interests, but we still ran US government contracts, and that just ain't right.

In either case, it's a matter of principle, and I won't compromise my principles just because my employer has lost his mind. Matter of fact, to my way of thinking, it's just the RIGHT time to leave an employer when he's starting to show signs of insanity, in the interests of self-preservation, if nothing else.

My philosophy was - and is - that I was looking for a job when I found that one, and I'll find another.

A paycheck cannot cover your self-respect.

Originally posted by RedBird

The POLICIES are what need to be challenged. And these are determined by lawmakers. It is the representatives in Congress, and their corporate leash holders on Wall St. who hold the responsibility for this monstrosity.

The policies of TSA are NOT determined by "lawmakers", in the sense of elected official, they are set by appointed and hired bureaucrats. They are not "law", they only carry the force of law, same as any other bureaucratic agency.

Yes, they need desperately to be changed, and that start with replacing bureaucrats in that agency from the top down until sanity is reached.

Or, better yet, restructuring or eliminating DHS altogether. So far, DHS and all of the agencies it provides an umbrella for have done NOTHING to secure us, they have only provided an illusion of security by letting folks see THEM cracking down on US.

I believe the term in vogue is "Security Theater".

Far from making the "Homeland Secure", DHS has demonstrated time and again that WE, the constituents of the "Homeland", are the enemy they fear the most, and therefore seek to most control. If you think differently, show me where they have provided "security" against ANY sort of external threat, from border invasion to flying terrorists. On the contrary, they make excuses for foreign threats, and crack down on their own citizenry.

Originally posted by ProvehitoInAltum
reply to post by Cassandra5Finish

 

I am far from an expert on this, but I will try to field your question and answer as best I can. According to the fourth ammendment of the Constituion, any search of a person requires the party doing the searching to have 'reasonable suspicion' of the searched party having broken the law. When law enforcement wants to carry out a thourough seach it is required that reasonable suspicion is met by presenting a warrant to a judge in a court of law, who then rules whether or not those conditions have been met and either issue the warrant for the search, or denies it if there is not enough evidence to prove the reasonable suspicion.

Therefore these scans are a violation of that, in that to pat us down in such a manner implies that everyone that recieves the patdown has met 'reasonable suspicion' of being a terrorist. In this country, according to law, we are innocent until proven guilty... if one holds to the Constition of the United States.

I am sure there are many here who can explain it better, but that's the best I can manage at 3AM

Hope that helps, and I hope I got all my facts correct!

That explanation is reasonably complete and on the money. The only things I would change are technical terms that don't really affect the general outline. Law enforcement presents "affidavits" to the judge instead of warrants, and the judge presents or reject issue of a warrant based on findings of "probable cause" rather than "reasonable suspicion". The terms mean basically the same thing, but legal beagles are such a finicky crowd when it comes to specific terminology.

Othrwise, you're right on the money.

Originally posted by ProvehitoInAltum

Do you quit on your principles, or do you think first of your child?

I think first of my child BY quitting over principles. Children learn right from wrong by watching what you DO more than listening to what you SAY.

Besides, there are other ways to feed a child than by groping the unwilling, even in this economy. It's an excellent opportunity to instruct your children that you don't survive by compromising your principles and selling out what make you YOU.

Of course, there may be something to be said for how you can demonstrate to your children how selling out your principles can kill your soul dead by NOT quitting.

All I know is which choice I made personally.

Originally posted by Raist

TSA pat downs: 'Horrible' screener job gets worse

money.cnn.com

"The work life here is horrible," said McCoy, president of his local union representing officers. Turnover is like a "revolving door" and health benefits are "atrocious," he said. Morale is low and so is the pay, he added.

Officers typically start at $29,000, but that's only if they're working full-time. New officers often start as part-time workers, said McCoy, at about $14 per hour. He said that part-timers, who make up 37% of the screener workforce at O'Hare, typically have to work four-hour days for at least three years before they're considered for full-time.

"I can't

(visit the link for the full news article)

OMG turnover is like a revolving door? That is yet another reason why these people SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED WITH OUR PRIVACY!!!!!!

Either require a DOD level clearance with a full SSBI or drop it all together!!!

Sorry but I dont trust anyone who can live on $29,000 a year to grope me....

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
Pshh.. 14 dollars an hour is bad pay? I'm working for g4s/Wackenhut security now and when I was security guarding the entrance to the alky units at the large oil refinery here I was only making 10.25. If someone put a bomb in there it would take out around 20,000 people here.
Minimum here in Ky is 7.25 and two or three years ago it was 5.25. I don't see how people make it in this world.

edit on 24-11-2010 by GogoVicMorrow because: (no reason given)

Well now.... that's the company I walked away from!

Keep in mind that 14 dollars an hour for a 4 hour day comes out to 7 dollars an hour if averaged out to account for a full 8 hour day. That's below minimum wage, and the TSA folks are expected to put up with that AND these ridiculous policies, for FOUR YEARS.

As a CPO for Wackenhut, I never made more than 18 dollars an hour - and that was in exceptional cases. Security doesn't pay much to begin with, unless you get into consulting. The norm for a Wackenhut CPO around here is about 12.00/hr.

Edit to add: At that, I had to work MEGA overtime, 84 hours a week up to a maximum of about 130 hours one week, to keep it afloat. Also, it's very difficult to find extra jobs to make ends meet in security, because your schedule is subject to change on short or NO notice. Hard to plan any other work around that... meaning that working part-time for TSA is a death sentence if you're in it for the money to raise a family.

reply to post by harrytuttle


And who the hell is going to take care of their kids when they have no job?

Your theoretical concerns and thoughts of how things should function will not win over the reality that this economy sucks, their job sucks but they still have a job.

You can blame them all you want, but blame yourself. You sit here on the internet and criticize them for not being patriotic, yet you do the same in your inaction. What the hell are you doing to fix this besides running your mouth?

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Yeah, I would like to see $14 an hour. However, they have to work part time for four years before they are considered for full time. That takes away a bit of income.

Raist