Luggage checkers fail to show up at 2 airports
By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- No decision had been made today on whether to discipline 
scores of Transportation Security Administration luggage checkers at 
Houston's two airports who failed to show up to work, creating snarls at 
baggage checkpoints.

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"We haven't had the chance to sit down and discuss it," said Andrea 
McCauley, a spokeswoman for TSA in Dallas. "It will be the subject of 
discussion in the weeks to come."

The absences were not excused, she said. "I can't make any assumptions about 
why people didn't come to work. After Katrina, people were fearful about 
their families and property," said McCauley. "Right now we are focusing on 
getting people out of the airport as quickly as possible."

The lack of baggage checkers contributed to ugly scenes at Houston's two 
airports, with endless lines scarcely moving as people fretted over missing 
what might be the last plane leaving the city to their destination.

TSA officials did not know the precise number of workers who skipped work 
today, McCauley said. In an effort to make up at least some of the 
shortfall, 180 TSA volunteers had been sent to Houston from as far away as 
Cleveland. It was not known how many of the volunteers had actually arrived 
in Houston and begun working by mid-day.

McCauley said the agency anticipated Wednesday that some workers would fail 
to report to their jobs after news accounts of the impending storm drew 
increasingly dire.

"Certainly we did expect a shortfall and that is why we asked for 
volunteers, some of whom are on the ground and some of whom are on the way," 
she said.

The problems with getting out of Houston airports were exacerbated by people 
showing up with no reservations trying to get on flights, and those with 
reservations packing enormous amounts of baggage that slowed the search 
process.

The TSA workers who volunteered to help in Houston came mostly from four 
other Texas cities, along with about 30 from Cleveland. Asked if those who 
didn't report to work today will be paid for the day anyway, or would be 
forced to take a vacation or leave day, McCauley said, "That has not been 
determined."