EmployeeScreenIQ

The current economic recession, as well as delays in government criminal background checks and new screening procedures, are leaving several port workers without jobs.

The National Employment Law Project recently released a study that found a 2002 law meant to improve security throughout the country's ports has actually resulted in thousands of longshoremen, truck drivers and other employees without jobs for longer than usual.

That law, which was instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is making those workers wait an average of seven months for security credentials that they need to return to their jobs or start new ones.

Between October 2007 and June 2009, more than 1.5 million port workers were required to go through the screening process, which is managed by the federal Transportation Security Administration.

In Baltimore - one of the biggest port areas in the nation - 21,060 workers applied for security clearance, but only 18,617 received and activated their credentials by mid-June.

America isn't the only country that has seen port workers suffer at the hands of background check requirements. Officials in Canada recently amped up their security measures for port workers.

A new deal between the federal Department of Transport and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is aimed at eliminating organized crime operatives from restricted areas and improving security for passengers and cargo traveling throughout Canada.

The measures will allow the RCMP to run names of employees seeking security passes in restricted areas through 10 different databases, which include information about complaints, victims, suspects and other criminal intelligence. Also as part of the background checks, authorities will have access to an Interpol database with police information from 187 member countries.

Labels: Criminal background checks