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Service employees say three passengers in wheelchairs were dropped.

June 29, 2007
From staff reports

Service workers at Los Angeles International Airport filed a federal complaint on Thursday, saying they had not received adequate training for assisting travelers with disabilities.

The two workers said in the complaint that their employer, Aero Port Services, had not offered real training in how to operate a wheelchair since 2003. Because of that, they said, workers dropped three passengers with disabilities in the span of a year.

The workers also said they had not been trained to help passengers with different types of disabilities, such as visual impairment. They argued that the federal Air Carrier Access Act requires such training, as well as periodic refresher courses.

"We do our best to figure it out," one of the workers, Tim Maddox, said at a press conference in front of the main international terminal at LAX. The other worker, Xiomara Osorio, said that it's "uncomfortable for us and for the passengers to have to guess what to do."

The company had not received formal notice of the complaint by late Thursday afternoon, said Stephan Park, the director of its legal department. He declined to comment on the workers' claims: "I can't comment on something I haven't seen."

Aero Port Services employs about 800 people at LAX, Park said; he estimated that about 300 of them work in what the company Web site calls "wheelchair operations." The company also offers security and cargo services at the airport, according to its Web site.

The two workers filed their complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation. A copy provided to the media laid out a list of demands, including a "disability liaison" to train workers and penalties against the company.

Several advocates for disabled people added their names to the complaint as supporters. They included the American Association of People with Disabilities and the California Alliance for Retired Americans.

Workers for Aero Port and other service providers at LAX have been pushing for better pay and working conditions in recent months.