By Nick Heath, 20 February 2008 16:03
NEWS
Airport workers are calling for consultation over plans to make them first in line for ID cards.
Silicon.com's A to Z of ID Cards
Click on the links below to find out everything you ever needed to know about the government's ID card plans...
A is for Act
B is for Biometrics
C is for Compulsory
D is for Data privacy worries
E is for EDS
F is for Forgery
G is for Government IT
H is for Home Office
I is for Identity and Passport Service
J is for Jury
K is for Hong Kong
L is for London School of Economics
M is for Money
N is for National Identity Register
O is for Other cards
P is for Passports
Q is for Quarter
R is for Refuseniks
S is for Self-destruct
T is for Terrorist
U is for Utility bill
V is for Verification
W is for When
X is for Xenophobia
Y is for Young people
Z is for London Zoo
Unite, the union which represents workers in the civil air transport sector, wants "full consultation" with airport group BAA after it was revealed it is in talks with the Home Office over the plan.
And the union said it wants to make sure workers will not shoulder the projected £93 cost of the biometric card.
BAA confirmed it was talking to the Home Office about airport workers being among those required to have ID cards under the £5.4bn National Identity Register scheme from about 2009.
Brian Boyd, national officer for Unite, said: "We would be seeking assurances that the introduction of ID cards would in no way discriminate against existing or new BAA employees.
"We want the process to be transparent, they [the BAA] would have to be able to substantiate the reason why workers are not able to get employment or an ID card. If the cards are necessary for continued employment at BAA they also need to make sure that the costs do not fall on the employee."
A spokesman for BAA said: "We can confirm that we are in preliminary discussions with the Home Office."
A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said it made sense to adopt an incremental approach to rolling out ID cards: "It is obviously right and logical that our first priority should be to consider where ID cards can be of greatest benefit to the security of the UK."
Foreign nationals coming to the UK will be given cards from the end of this year and the Home Office is expected to announce details within weeks of which category of migrants will be required to have a card.
The widespread rollout to UK citizens, known as 'Borders phase II', is now slated to begin in 2012 - two years later than indicated in an earlier government action plan.
Critics of the scheme said the perceived two-year slip in the widespread rollout of the cards is another sign of wavering support among Gordon Brown's government for ID cards. Doubts in the scheme were further exacerbated by Accenture and BAE Systems pulling out of the procurement process to build the ID card computer system.
Meanwhile the government admitted to another embarrassing data mishap after it revealed a CD containing details of 4,000 offenders the Dutch authorities wanted to trace had been missing for almost a year.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
what exactly is wrong with BAA's vetting procedures now that they need to be replaced or supplemented by the NIR and ID card scheme ?
"they also need to make sure that the costs do not fall on the employee" - there isn't the slightest chance of the workers shouldering the costs of the scheme, HMG wants them to take it so it will be a bargain basement rate possibly even free, it will probably come with a range of attractive benefits
'Brian Boyd, national officer for Unite, said:"We would be seeking assurances that the introduction of ID cards would in no way discriminate against existing or new BAA employees"' so even if the application process shows an existing or potential employee to be a security risk they are not to be denied their job .. kinda makes a mockery of the idea of the card being for security purposes doesn't it but HMG will probably swallow this as well as it gets the ball rolling
"A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said it made sense to adopt an incremental approach to rolling out ID cards" - first bite of the elephant
"Meanwhile the government admitted to another embarrassing data mishap after it revealed a CD containing details of 4,000 offenders the Dutch authorities wanted to trace had been missing for almost a year" - interesting footnote, this should be a story in it's own right but I suppose it's lost it's impact due to saturation, we are so used to incompetence at the highest level now, we no longer raise an eyebrow and if it ceases to be news it ceases to be a problem
2. Chris Stevens
The are many companies that will undertake a thorough investigation of a person's history.
The National Id Register does not or will not qualify a person's suitability for the job. It will merely indicate that the card holder looks like the person holding the card.
3. Simon
"... it made sense to adopt an incremental approach to rolling out ID cards"
Of course it does, it's called "divide and conquer". They know that if they try and unleash this full scale that they'll have such a resistance (though perhaps not a repeat of the poll tax riots) that the system will fall over. This way, they can pick on small minorities where they can play the "how can you object to <excuse du jour>" card. Each time, it's a small wedge driven home - and once the wedges are in then they can keep driving them further and further just like they've done with the Sex Offenders register (originally only for the most serious of offenders), the national DNA register (originally only for serious convicted criminals), the ANPR cameras for the Kengestion Zone (now fed directly to other government departments), etc, etc, etc.
It would be interesting to say the least to see what would happen if someone is sacked for refusing to take a card. It would make an interesting test case to see if the dismissal was fair or whether the tribunal would consider the requirement to be disproportionate and hence unneccessary ? I guess Gordons slaves will soon be spinning this as some sort of "optional" card - yeah right, optional if you don't actually need to work !
4. Chris Goodman
As a security measure I would expect a comprehensive and very secure ID card system to be in operation for all airport and airline ground staff. I would expect a no exception regulation to operate - NO ID CARD then NO WORK AT THE AIRPORT.
This should be a legislative requirement that would allow the proof of identity and access entitlement to be carried out in an instant.
5. GALLEY SLAVE#41
By hook or by crook they will erode our liberties, nibbling away at small sections of the population 'til we all are carring big brother in our wallets.
Divided we will fall and the wassocks of Westminster know it.