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SWA Company Facial Hair Respirator/Hood Policy
May 18, 2015

SWA Company Facial Hair Respirator/Hood Policy

Grievance Update – Company Facial Hair Policy

A system­wide group­all grievance was filed on Saturday, May 16, 2015, challenging the Company’s unilateral implementation of an overly broad and arbitrary Respiratory Protection Program ("RPP") Policy related to the use of respirators or protective hoods. The Company’s new policy flies in the face of decades of established past practice at our airline as it relates to the rights and freedoms regarding your bodies and the persona you wish to present – specifically whether you maintain facial hair.

We will not get into the specifics of the legal argument underpinning our grievance.

It is important to note that AMFA reached out to the Company multiple times in an effort to work collaboratively to establish an RPP policy that would ensure safety while respecting our members’ rights. The Company, however, turned a blind eye to our multiple requests for substantive input – instead choosing to proceed down a unilateral path, which gave zero consideration to established past practice and your rights. Unfortunately, this type of one­sided approach is becoming the normal operation for a Company that seems to no longer value employee morale.

AMFA also requested a delay in implementation of the Company’s arbitrary policy to allow the parties time to continue work towards an amicable solution. Again, however, the Company was not interested in working with us – focusing instead on forcing its square peg policy into a round hole.

We will keep you updated as to the status of the grievance on this issue. You may be confronted with Company demands in the near future to blindly comply with its new RPP policy, which could result in a Company demand to shave. We do not advise any member to engage in insubordination, as the typical rule is to obey now and grieve later.

However, we would hope with a pending system­wide grievance on this issue, the Company would respect the dispute resolution process and not subject any member to a circumstance where they are threatened with discipline while this important grievance is pending. We will continue to defend our contract and our members’ rights.

Michael Young, Local 32 Airline Rep

PDF File here


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AMFA Local 32
1403 W. 10th Pl., Suite B-116
Tempe, Arizona 85281-5257
  480-420-6919

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