BC Ferries workers ask for religious exemption from clean-shaven rule
CTV
A union representing marine workers is taking BC Ferries to task over one of the company's policies regarding facial hair.
Dan Kimmerly, president of the Ships Officers’ Component of the BC Ferry & Marine Workers' Union, says three employees are looking for religious exemptions from the policy that men must be clean-shaven
"The members that we’re directly representing in this specific instance right now are from the Sikh community," Kimmerly said.
All employees are expected to have clean-shaven faces in case they need to wear masks while fighting fires on the vessel, but Kimmerly says the policy differs depending on where in the company employees are located.
"Captains are usually OK and some chief engineers, as well, depending on the type of vessel that they’re working on," he said. "Shipboard employees is mostly where we see the clean-shaven policy, also in some of the trades."
Kimmerly says marine workers in other companies are permitted the exemption and one of the workers BC Ferries won't allow on a vessel is working elsewhere.
"One of the workers is off working for another company in Canada right now, so they’re able to [be] gainfully employed for another company. However, they would like to work in B.C. for BC Ferries and they can’t," he said.
According to BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall, the regulation surrounding beards actually comes from WorkSafeBC.
"They need to be clean-shaven in order to don a self-contained breathing apparatus and that’s in the event of, say, an engine room that was filled with smoke," she said. "You wouldn’t want somebody to not have a proper seal and facial hair can compromise the seal so it’s actually putting the worker at risk."
