“On this episode of It's Time Live, AFA is vigorously defending two publicly pro-union SkyWest flight attendants, Shane Price and Tresa Grange, who were wrongfully terminated by SkyWest management on baseless grounds. It's blatant retaliation right out of the union-busting playbook. We'll chat with Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, along with John Morse, associate general counsel of the Association of Flight Attendants.
First, a little background. SkyWest flight attendants have been working to establish their SkyWest AFA Union, which will be certified by the National Mediation Board and part of AFA-CWA, the largest flight attendant union with councils at 19 airlines. For years, the lines have been blurry between SkyWest management and SIA, SkyWest Inflight Association, which management refers to as an in-house union. But here's the thing -- it's not a real union.
Although many SkyWest flight attendants have become involved with SIA through the years to make a positive difference for their coworkers, it's become clear to most that management controls SIA and uses it to fool flight attendants into thinking they have representation. After years of concerns being swept under the rug, two flight attendants bravely exposed how unsecure and manipulatable the voting system is at SIA. For example, this voting system was used for flight attendants to choose between a 3% raise and a new winter coat. To the amazement of most, the winter coat won. How many would ask? This is just one of several events confirming that management calls all the shots at SkyWest right now, and the only way to change that is to make SkyWest a better workplace by establishing a real flight attendant union.
Something to remember — at AFA carriers, coworkers are often called “Flying Partners,” which could be confused with “mainline partners,” a widely used term at SkyWest. So, please keep that in mind during the podcast.”
Be sure to sign the petition to demand that Tresa and Shane’s terminations be reversed.