October 12th, 2007
DHS accused of collecting union data on travellers
Does being a union member now make you a terrorist threat? Labor leaders charge that the Dept. of Homeland Security is collecting union membership data on passengers flying from Europe to the U.S., as part of a data-sharing deal with the European Union, The Washington Post reports.
As part of an agreement reached in July, airlines are providing personal data on millions of U.S.-bound passengers. Despite U.S. objections, EU negotiators won concessions restricting the use of sensitive information like 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.”
The labor unions asked DHS Sec. Michael Chertoff to state that the Department of Homeland Security will not collect such data. Spokesman Russ Knocke denied the information is 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.”
To be precise, Chertoff sent a letter to EU Council President Luis Amado in July, saying 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, the Post said. He said that if such information is not used, the department “promptly” deletes it.
