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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