July 30, 2014

Dear AMFA Members:

In the July edition of the Grapevine Newsletter we wrote extensively about AMFA’s safety

initiative. AMFA believes wholeheartedly that safety is our number one priority. We sincerely

understand that our craft’s relationship with the flying public is one of safety and dutifully stand

by our mantra, “Safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground.”

To that end, this month, one of our members working for Southwest Airlines filed an AIR21

Whistle Blower complaint against Southwest Airlines under 49 U.S.C §42121 with the United

States Department of Labor. In his complaint, the aircraft maintenance technician states that he

was reprimanded for reporting maintenance issues that his Base Manager and Manager of

Maintenance deemed “working outside of scope of assigned task.” The complaint further states

that he was advised two days later that any further violations might result in “further disciplinary

action,” a message he states was “meant to intimidate and dissuade mechanics from reporting

similar discrepancies.”

AMFA’s National Executive Council (NEC) fully supports the actions of this member, and we

reiterate our message from the newsletter: “If a manager asks you to deviate from maintenance

standards, they are asking you to violate federal law. AIR21 was enacted specifically to protect

you and your job from any retaliation for reporting any such violations.”

AMFA also supports your right to invoke AIR21. We urge you to be vigilant in reporting safety

violations and, most importantly, we urge you to never allow your professional obligations to be

deterred by intimidation tactics. It is your job and responsibility to keep our aircraft running

safely for the flying public.

The onus is now on Southwest Airlines executives to fully investigate these charges, and should

they find that the managers in question violated the law, take the proper steps to ensure this never

happens again.

We see this is as a perfect opportunity to work more closely with our represented carriers to

create a stronger safety culture, and the AMFA NEC hopes that Southwest Airlines will seize

this opportunity. Stay together and keep AMFA strong!

On behalf of the AMFA NEC,

Louie Key

National Director

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