We, the undersigned, are advocating change based on blatant labor violations which have been demonstrated in different arenas such as those by AFGE Council 214 blocked its implementation at Air Force Material Command (AFMC) bases. The decisive factor was a 2003 MOA on AFI 36-703. Civilian Conduct and Responsibility which bans application of “military grooming standards” to civilians. To date Council 214 bargaining unit ARTs remain exempt from the military uniform requirement.

Both in the U.S. to include Nellis AFB and abroad U.S. troops are being instructed thru directives not to wear uniforms off base in order to blend in more with the locals.

Furthermore, civilians are not in command of the troops they supervise, said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, who served as Air Force deputy Judge Advocate General from 2006 to 2010 and now teaches law at Duke University.
“The only civilians in the operational chain of military command are the president and the secretary of defense,” Dunlap said in an email. “Service secretaries also have certain authorities, but not in the same operational sense.” While civilians in higher pay grades may get the same benefits entitled to general officers, that is “a matter of protocol and comity, not because they are legally equivalent,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Geoff Corn, a former judge advocate officer who now teaches at South Texas College of Law in Houston. Civilian supervisors still have lots of authority over troops, Corn said in an email. For example, they can assign tasks, and assess troops’ performance. “But they cannot perform functions of command, such as process disciplinary actions,” Corn said in an email. “Instead, they are supposed to recommend such actions to the soldier’s commander. When the commander is not available, a subordinate military officer assumes command, not the civilian.”

The petitioned signatures challenge the validity of uniform wear by Dual status Technicians and ARTs merit, and call for change to the language that will remove from the Technician Act (32 U.S.C. § 709) the requiring of the wearing of uniforms for excepted service Technicians while performing their 40-hour/week jobs for three additional real merits: Air Force Instruction (AFI) 36-2903 Subparagraph 9.12.2.1 uniforms indicate combatant status under the international laws of armed conflict by distinguishing military members of the armed forces from civilians and other noncombatants, AFI’s 36-801 2.4 subparagraph 2.4.7 which states Coordinate with Labor Relations Officer to ensure that all bargaining obligations are completed prior to implementation of uniforms. AFI 36-2903 paragraph 1.4 sub paragraph 1.4.7 While working in an off-duty, civilian capacity. This change would then foster a change in all other AFI’s that pertain to Dual Status Technicians and ARTs and uniform wear.