DHS Noting Union Affiliation Of Air Travelers Is Protested

U.S. labor leaders have written a biting letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, voicing concerns that the government is collecting labor union data on airline passengers flying to the United States from Europe to determine whether they pose a terrorism risk.

As part of an agreement reached in July between the United States and European Union, airlines are required to provide personal data on millions of U.S.-bound passengers, such as names and credit card information. European negotiators won restrictions on the use of such sensitive information as religion, sexual orientation and union membership.

But the Passenger Name Record Agreement states that that data can be used in exceptional cases, "where the life of a data subject or of others could be imperiled or seriously impaired," such as in a counterterrorism investigation.

"We agree with the department's objective to identify those representing a genuine threat, but we categorically reject the notion that union membership has any bearing on this determination," AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, wrote in a letter dated yesterday. "Even the suggestion that union membership is somehow indicative of a threat to security is offensive to the millions of workers we are proud to represent."

Sweeney and Wytkind said they were "extremely troubled" by an agreement that anticipates the transfer of such data. They asked Chertoff to state that the Department of Homeland Security will not collect such data.

Department spokesman Russ Knocke said information on union membership is not collected. "It's an egregious assertion without any merit," he said. "This information simply does not go into data fields. That information is shielded out."

In a letter to European Union Council President Luis Amado in July, Chertoff said that the use of any sensitive data in exceptional cases would be logged and that after the purpose for its use is accomplished, the data would be destroyed within 30 days. He said that if such information is not used, the department "promptly" deletes it.

In an interview, Wytkind said the unions' concerns extend beyond the possibility that union membership data will be collected to the fact that Homeland Security has said the European agreement would be a template for agreements with other nations.

"We're going to try to nip this before it becomes embedded in all future bilateral agreements," he said.

Civil libertarians said sharing information gathered under the July agreement without appropriate safeguards poses privacy risks.