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A piece in the "NY Times" over the weekend was headed, "Paying the price", and I thought there was going to be some introspection about the US geopolitical role. There wasn't. But it did touch on, as did David Levy's forwarded message late last week, on the industrial/organisational aspects of airport security. And that price is paid for turning many aspects of airline industry employment into a sector of the low wage economy. What once accompanied this high-wage, "glamour" industry was a sense of employees' belonging and contributing to the excitement of aircraft and airport logistics, of flying aircraft and accounting for, and being accountable for, airline passengers' safety, comfort and convenience. But with airline deregulation, the goals of airline passenger safety, which were once shared in the belly by airline managements, became secondary to, or at best no more important than, profits, and where capital costs were relatively comparable, the competitive edge was gained in many airlines and airports in reductions in labour costs through downsizing and lower wages, with scant regard to the known effects on staff. Is last week's terrorist use of aircraft as bombs the outcome of deregulation of, and downsizing in, the industry? That might be too long a bow to draw, but low wage industries result in low wage service. Worker indifference is not a necessary outcome of low wages, and workers dealing with the public usually have a high sense of responsibility for their charges: the ability of workers to provide adequate security when they are understaffed, underpaid, and under-regarded, however, is severely compromised. And that is a management responsibility. Jim McDonald Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations Department of HRM & Employment Relations University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Qld 4350 AUSTRALIA +61 7 4631 2634; fax +61 7 4631 1533 [log in to unmask] <http://www.usq.edu.au/users/jmac>