Air traffic controllers share concerns

LAS VEGAS-- Air traffic controllers worried about losing their jobs to private companies sought support from travelers at airports across the country Saturday, despite assurances from the FAA that their jobs were safe.

"The Bush administration has set the dominoes up for privatization," said Karl Keller, controller at McCarran International Airport. "We don't want to be knocked down."

Keller was among hundreds of off-duty controllers who briefed travelers during a three-day leafleting campaign at 70 airports from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. The publicity blitz was to end today.

FAA administrator Marion Blakey told controllers Thursday that their jobs would not be contracted out to private companies, despite a recent decision to classify the jobs as "commercial" rather than "inherently governmental."

However, members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association point to President Bush's last two budget plans, in which he proposed studying whether private industry rather than the FAA should handle air traffic control. In June, Bush signed an executive order stripping controllers of guaranteed government jobs.

More than 200 small, private airports use private companies to run their air traffic control towers. However, all commercial airports have government controllers.