AFA Responds to Management’s Retaliation
Here is a letter from Sara Nelson, International President of AFA-CWA, regarding SkyWest Airlines’ illegal termination of Flight Attendants:
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Click to see letter on the AFA-CWA website
September 15, 2023
Dear SkyWest Flight Attendants,
Together, we’re building our union every single day everywhere we go, and the momentum is growing exponentially. Thousands of SkyWest Flight Attendants have signed cards calling for an election for our union and wearing AFA pins (our legal right and the symbol to management that we know our rights) while talking to flying partners about why It’s Time for OO to join AFA.
And management knows it. They are hoping to keep Flight Attendants fearful from claiming our rights to collectively bargain and gain the security, benefits, and pay guaranteed with a union contract. Our strength and ability to combat their fear tactics comes from unity.
On September 13th, SkyWest management illegally fired two Flight Attendants on baseless grounds. Both are outspoken, public union advocates for SkyWest Flight Attendants and leaders on our organizing committee. Management legally cannot retaliate against them or our workgroup on the whole for seeking union representation and exposing union busting.
The AFA Legal Department is immediately addressing management’s illegal actions and we will not allow the company’s retaliation against our coworkers to stand.
This is why we must have a real union run by and for Flight Attendants that represents the interests of Flight Attendants and not management's interests. Management has also deceptively used SIA to try to have Flight Attendants believe we have a voice at SkyWest. But we know who’s really calling the shots behind the scenes, management.
We commend our fellow Flight Attendants who get involved in SIA hoping to help improve our lives. The problem is that management funds SIA and uses it as an illegal tool to push their agenda and keep us from having the federally certified, legal voice at work that our AFA will provide.
Many SkyWest Flight Attendants have suspected that management may ultimately determine who “wins” the “election.” Recently, a group of concerned SkyWest Flight Attendants discovered how grossly inadequate and unsecure the company-sponsored SIA voting system is and shared this information with our flying partners.
Rather than come clean, SkyWest management is trying to deflect blame on the whistleblowers who uncovered the truth. SkyWest management has been using a voting system for years that is not secure. Management is in the wrong, not the Flight Attendants.
These terminations are an attack on all SkyWest Flight Attendants, and workers everywhere. Part of the standard anti-union playbook is trying to intimidate workers, but that’s not happening here! SkyWest management will soon learn that they must deal with the 50,000 members of AFA and, in fact, the entire labor movement.
We must stick together and tell management we will not tolerate its anti-union behavior and the big money they spend on it rather than investing in us and recognizing our hard work. We're more determined than ever to get our union and negotiate a real union contract. Together, we will succeed.
In Solidarity,
Sara Nelson
International President
