It's Time For The Industry to be Outraged

For more than 20 years, ARSA has been battling the negative perception of contract maintenance in the media and in the halls of Congress. Unfortunately, the job has gotten even more difficult and YOU need to join the fight NOW.

The attached Word document includes a press release from the Business Travel Coalition (BTC), the latest organization to declare war on contract maintenance. Look at the messages — the work YOU do is unsafe and YOU’RE endangering the traveling public. With congressional scrutiny of our industry at an all time high, it’s time for the maintenance industry to act.

Although ARSA is doing all it can, fighting potentially harmful provisions in the FAA reauthorization bill, the maintenance industry needs to develop the individual political clout to stop these attacks from gaining momentum. We can’t rely on our manufacturer and airline allies to do it for us; although they are helpful in fighting battles, their attention is focused elsewhere.

The maintenance industry is international in scope; in the U.S. alone, this sector represents approximately 40 billion dollars per year. This means that every state and congressional district is impacted by your economics and your votes. Taking the time to be politically active is as simple as writing a letter or a check.

Whether you perform work for general aviation or airlines, the ability to attract and retain international customers is impacted by what Congress does. Although the proposed legislation may be aimed primarily at "airlines," the bottom line is that it will also hurt the maintenance industry.

It is time to stand up and be heard. The first step is getting the word out. PLEASE put the letter attached below (entitled, "Standing Up for the Aviation Maintenance Industry") on your company letterhead and send it along with the BTC press release (included in the attachment) to other repair stations and to all your maintenance vendors. The more educated our industry is, the more influential we’ll become.

Visit ARSA’s Legislative Action Center for all the tools you need to contact Congress; log onto ARSAAction.org to send letters to Capitol Hill; and most importantly, become engaged!

We’ve given you the tools, now use them.

ARSA's press release concerning the BTC summit may be found here.