FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2023
Contact: Jonna Huseman, jhuseman@twu.org
The TWU Supports Polly Trottenberg to Temporarily Lead the FAA
Washington, DC – John Samuelsen, International President of the Transport Workers Union, issues this statement in support of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg as the FAA’s Interim Leader:
“Polly Trottenberg has a long history of both managing large, complicated organizations AND advocating for working people. She is exactly the right person to step in and fix the FAA at this moment. After months of frustration and uncertainty in this process, airline workers can finally look towards trusted leadership at the FAA to address the serious issues they face every day.
“Our air system has never needed a competent Administrator more than it does right now. Safety incidents are on the rise and assaults on workers have not fallen back to pre-pandemic levels. More and more jobs are being offshored from the airline industry while employers feign labor shortages as an excuse to undermine standards. Internally, the FAA faces a rulemaking backlog that goes back more than a decade and a recalcitrant culture of denialism that has prevented any major improvements for years. Assigning Ms. Trottenberg to this task is a clear demonstration that the Biden Administration is taking these concerns seriously.
“There is no question that the FAA needs a permanent, Senate-approved Administrator as soon as possible in order to fully address the longstanding, worsening problems at the agency. Ms. Trottenberg is a great, though temporary, fix for a series of problems that are too threatening to fail to address. The TWU stands ready to help Ms. Trottenberg begin the process of reform at the FAA that must continue under a permanent Administrator as quickly as possible.”