By Nick Heath, 8 May 2009 14:48
NEWS
The majority of pilots in the UK do not want ID cards and will fight plans to force them onto air crews.
A survey of 10,000 pilots by the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) found 60 per cent were opposed to ID cards and Balpa has pledged to battle the rollout of the cards to pilots "with every lawful means at our disposal".
All new airside workers in the UK will be required to have an ID card, starting with staff and crew at Manchester and London City airports this Autumn.
A spokesman for Balpa said: "If pilots do not get a card they will lose their job, it goes against what Parliament has been told about the cards not being compulsory.
"Pilots do not think it will improve security and think the scheme is a waste of money and do not trust the government with their details."
Balpa says it continues to consult its lawyers over what legal action could be taken to fight the rollout of the cards to pilots.
An Identity and Passport Service spokeswoman said: "Balpa have come to us with their concerns and we have spoken to them a number of times about how we can work with industry to resolve these.
"Identity cards will directly benefit airside workers - not just by improving personnel security, but also by speeding up pre-employment checks and increasing the efficiency of pass-issuing arrangements, making it easier for these workers to take up their posts and move from one airside job to another."
She said the government was working out how to gradually rollout the requirement to hold an ID card to all UK airside workers.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. karen challinor
first the airside workers then students then manchester and tomorrow the world ... well the UK at least
"She said the government was working out how to gradually rollout the requirement to hold an ID card to all UK airside workers"
how about answering the questions people have about the card and not giving the stock answers that have been knocked discredited everytime they have been trotted out
it won't prevent terrorism, it won't prevent crime, it will provide a means of tracking the movements and expenditure of an entire population, they are going to be compulsory because they are useless otherwise just give us one good reason why we need them other than to line the treasuries coffers and provide government departments with a wealth of data to study for more ways to pump money out of our pockets
and I did notice that it's the requirement thats being rolled out and not the actual card so the card is not compulsory, it's the requirement thats compulsory
another way of saying it is you can't object to the card in a court of law as that might set a precedent that could overturn the scheme you can only object to the requirement which is a different thing entirely and won't affect the scheme in any way if a precedent is set
they give us word games, sophistry & spin
I have another few words for them
election, disgrace, dole queue
2. GALLEYSLAVE
When are our lords and masters going to realise that we just don't want ID card?
We must get behind the pilots and anyone else that are threatened with any form of complusory ID.
COMMON SENSE MUST PREVAIL
3. Richard Davies
I would like to know how it will enable airport workers to move around different airport jobs any easier than they can at the moment?
They don't have any card readers etc. and so I don't see how things will be improved upon?
People should now realise (if they haven't already) that when people (government) tell you something and then ignore any questions you have...they are basically full of rubbish / lies and don't actually have a clue!
Which is most of the time for the government!
Why not roll out the ID Cards to government staff first (starting with MP's)?
4. Jeremy Wickins
More power to the pilots. I can see a couple of grounds for judicial review in what the gvt are trying to do.
Like Karen, and as I posted last week, I'll start thinking about this when someone starts dealing with questions as if they have actually thoughT about the answers, and acknowledged that there are some serious issues to be addressed. Merely chanting "It will improve security, defeat terrorism, and save the children" is not adequate, because people can see that those arguments have no real substance. If there is an advantage to me that is the same as, or greater than, the advantage to the people who want me to have a card, I'll think about it. And anyone that is trying to force a card through obviously sees a greater advantage to themselves than to me.
5. anonymous
What about all the foreign workers there.
All the foreign workers who fly in on planes to THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
Guess they will be exempt, and will just present themselves at crew check in as normal with their passports.
Further making this whole trial as excercise in pointlessness and futility.
6. Andrew Meredith CEng CITP
Ahh come on people, have a heart! You've stopped them from claiming for their swimming pools. You stopped them building a property portfolio at the taxpayers' expense. Now you want to actually make them justify the massively expensive schemes.
What? Did you really think they got themselves elected to serve the people of this country??!