Wheelchair provider at LAX targeted

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Wheelchair provider at LAX targeted

By Francisco Vara-Orta, Times Staff Writer

June 29, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-

disabled29jun29,1,2937708.story

Two workers who provide wheelchair assistance to disabled travelers

at Los Angeles International Airport filed a complaint Thursday with

the U.S. Department of Transportation, alleging that their employer

has failed to provide legally mandated training and properly

maintain wheelchairs.

Backed by a group of eight disability and workers' rights

organizations, the complaint alleges that Aero Port Services has

failed to train some of its 350 wheelchair assistance employees,

leading to eyewitness accounts of three customers being dropped from

their wheelchairs in the last 12 months, among other problems.

But Stephan Park, director of Aero Port Services' legal department,

rebutted the allegations, adding that he had not yet seen the

complaint.

Park said the company has nurses provide training in how to help

people in wheelchairs. He said the company has 75 new wheelchairs in

its fleet of 100 and has ordered an additional 40 chairs.

For about four years, Inglewood-based Aero Port Services has had a

contract to serve the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Park said the complaint may be an attempt to " put pressure " on the

company to unionize.

" We are one of only two ground-handling companies that are not

unionized, " he said.

Carolina Briones of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a

labor-backed community group, said Parks was mistaken.

Unionizing " is not what the complaint is about, " Briones said. " This

is about safety for the disabled and those handling them. "

The employees' complaint states that Aero Port Services has violated

parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Air r

Access Act, requiring that airlines and airports make accommodations

to assist disabled passengers with traveling.