Alaska Airlines to replace FA uniforms for health reasons
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
Alaska Airlines to replace FA uniforms for health reasons
From Yahoo! News
As the numbers of employees reporting mysterious illnesses keeps growing, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has decided to replace the uniforms worn by its 3,200 flight attendants nationwide.
“Honestly, they’ve been frustrated with how long it’s taken to get to this point, but we are very happy to see that we are transitioning to a new uniform,” said Jeffrey Peterson, president of Alaska Airlines flight attendants union.
The union is convinced that rashes, headaches and hair loss and respiratory problems are linking to the uniforms flight attendants have been wearing since January of 2011.
As the numbers of employees reporting mysterious illnesses keeps growing, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has decided to replace the uniforms worn by its 3,200 flight attendants nationwide.
“Honestly, they’ve been frustrated with how long it’s taken to get to this point, but we are very happy to see that we are transitioning to a new uniform,” said Jeffrey Peterson, president of Alaska Airlines flight attendants union.
The union is convinced that rashes, headaches and hair loss and respiratory problems are linking to the uniforms flight attendants have been wearing since January of 2011.
#3
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AS MVPG, CO, NW(now DL), Flying Blue
Posts: 6,554
all I can say is a quote from Charlie Brown. "good grief"
What are these uniforms made out of? Some sort of fabric thats not from planet earth or what? Im aware some people cant wear wool but come on now.
What are these uniforms made out of? Some sort of fabric thats not from planet earth or what? Im aware some people cant wear wool but come on now.
#4
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,942
Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
Wow this has gone on for quite a while... The company was even dry cleaning them IIRC. Wonder if the style will change?
Wow this has gone on for quite a while... The company was even dry cleaning them IIRC. Wonder if the style will change?
#5
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SEA
Programs: All Around Nobody
Posts: 861
#6
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AS MVPG, CO, NW(now DL), Flying Blue
Posts: 6,554
well dont the GA/CSA wear the same stuff? No medical issues from them? And its unfounded and still not proven that the uniforms are really causing the FAs rashes and the like. Could it be something on the new aircraft? Although if that was the case you would think passengers who are VERY frequent flyers would also have symptoms
Last edited by ANC; Jul 28, 2013 at 10:17 am
#7
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AS MVPG75K, HH Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, AGR S+
Posts: 366
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnO5xDgTiOI
At least there's some color. While that's just a sample of the interim uniform, I'm sad it doesn't have any of the character of the current uniform.
#8
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: AS MVP, Elevate, AAdvantage, Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,992
Lands End is a good vendor (even though they have been owned by Sears for a decade), so I suspect the new uniforms will be a success. I just really have to wonder what was in the present uniforms that could have possibly been resulting in all these problems.
#9
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AS MVPG, CO, NW(now DL), Flying Blue
Posts: 6,554
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,506
Could be anything from a flame retardant, to a synthetic fiber emitting a toxic substance, to the packaging - who knows.
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
And you can never, ever should have done something.
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,506
http://ashsd.afacwa.org/?zone=/union...&HomeID=160011
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
http://ashsd.afacwa.org/?zone=/union...&HomeID=160011
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.
#15
Join Date: Jan 2008
Programs: AS MVPG, CO, NW(now DL), Flying Blue
Posts: 6,554
http://ashsd.afacwa.org/?zone=/union...&HomeID=160011
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.
Regarding arsenic, lead, and chromium in fabrics: Significantly, heavy metals fabric data commissioned by Alaska Airlines and completed in Aug. 2012 reported that 13 of 35 fabric samples appeared to have excess levels of arsenic and lead, 6 of 35 samples appeared to have excess levels of chromium (not hexavalent), and one had excess hexavalent chromium, all as compared to the Oeko-Tex 100 fabric standard. AFA-CWA has not been provided with the names of the arsenic, lead, and chromium-containing compounds in these fabrics, but these test data confirm their presence.