"Employees claim company doesn't provide enough training for wheelchairs at LAX"

Friday, June 29, 2007

Employees claim company doesn't provide enough training for wheelchairs at
LAX
The Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - Two workers who provide wheelchair assistance at Los Angeles
International Airport filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of
Transportation, claiming their employer hasn't provided proper training and
well-maintained wheelchairs.

The complaint filed Thursday alleges Aero Port Services has failed to train
some of its 350 wheelchair assistance employees, leading to eyewitness
accounts of three customers being dropped from their wheelchairs in the last
12 months, among other problems.

A company employee reached by phone after-hours Friday said he could not
answer questions and said to call back during business hours.

Stephan Park, director of Aero Port Services' legal department, said the
company has nurses provide training in how to help people in wheelchairs. He
said the company has 75 new wheelchairs in its fleet of 100 and has ordered
an additional 40 chairs.

Aero Port Services had had a contract for about four years to work at the
airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Park said the complaint may be an attempt to "put pressure" on the company
to unionize.

"We are one of only two ground-handling companies that are not unionized,"
he said.

Carolina Briones of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a
labor-backed community group, said Parks was mistaken.

Unionizing "is not what the complaint is about," Briones said. "This is
about safety for the disabled and those handling them."

The employees' complaint states the company has violated parts of the
Americans with Disabilities Act and the Air Carrier Access Act, requiring
that airlines and airports make accommodations to assist disabled passengers
with traveling.

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************