Area federal lawmakers are calling into question the
Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to move 100 engineers from Des
Plaines to Texas just as the massive O’Hare International Airport expansion
gets off the ground.
The union representing those employees says the move,
part of a nationwide staff consolidation, likely will push back the 2013
deadline for the $7.5 billion expansion that is aimed at reducing delays and
increasing capacity.
On Friday, federal lawmakers stepped up the pressure
with a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey.
“We believe this relocation could seriously impair air
traffic control and safety operations in and around Chicago,” the letter
reads. “The decision … raises serious questions about the FAA’s commitment
to the success of the modernization process at O’Hare.”
U.S. representatives Melissa Bean, a Barrington
Democrat, Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat, Mark Kirk, a Highland Park
Republican and U.S. Democratic senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin signed
the letter.
The lawmakers are asking for more information on why
the move is being made and how it will affect workers and the expansion
project.
“When we receive the letter we will be happy to
respond to them and explain,” FAA spokesman Greg Martin said.
The FAA contends none of the 100 jobs in the
650-position office will be directly related to air safety or the O’Hare
expansion. All of the positions are outside of air traffic control, such as
radar readers, but they are represented by the same union.
Yet, Air Traffic Controllers Association leaders
say engineers working on the O’Hare expansion will be asked to move across
the country, and it expects at least 50 will quit instead.
The relocation plan, which will affect hundreds
of similar FAA employees across the country, is aimed at consolidating most
operations into offices in Atlanta, Seattle and Fort Worth, Texas.
The current set up with nine regional offices is
inefficient, Martin says. Over the next 10 years, the FAA estimates a
savings of $360 million. |