THEY WERE TOLD!

Union called out airline as lax on fixes BY MEGAN CERULLO and JANON FISHER NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WEEKS BEFORE engine failure (photo inset) caused a passenger death, the Southwest Airlines mechanics union reportedly warned of a "ostrich- like head-in-the-sand approach" to problems with the company’s aircraft maintenance program. In an email, Bret Oestreich, national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Frat ernal Association, cautioned Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Mike van de Ven that there was too much — 75% — outsourcing of maintenance work, the Chicago Business Journal reported. "The truth is, there exists a serious concern regarding the degradation of safety within Southwest’s maintenance program," the labor leader wrote. An April report from the Transport Workers Union of America found that nearly a quarter of aircraft maintenance was done by offshore companies. "The dangerous dirty secret of the airline industry is their use of low-paid mechanics in foreign countries to maintain passenger aircraft," said John Samuelsen, president of the national TWU.