Unions join protest against airline ID cards
Jean Eaglesham writes in the Financial Times:
Unions have thrown their weight behind airlines and airport operators in lobbying against the proposed roll-out of identity cards to the industry, adding to the political pressures on the government over the contentious scheme.
The Trades Union Congress has told Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, of its “significant and substantive” concerns about the plans for thousands of airport workers to become the first British nationals to be issued with the new biometric cards.
ID cards are due to become compulsory for workers in “sensitive roles” in the airline industry by autumn next year. Ministers claim the cards will prove more secure than the passes and swipe cards being used, in a sector of crucial importance to national security.
But the proposals are running into a wall of opposition. In a protest letter to Ms Smith, ten leading airline chief executives have stressed their “joint and determined opposition” to a proposal they claim will add unnecessary costs and risks to an already secure system.
