SkyWest Airlines facing federal lawsuit over alleged ‘fake company union’

SkyWest Airlines, the largest regional airline in North America, is facing legal action over an alleged “fake” company union that the airline operates and the allegedly retaliatory firings of flight attendants who were engaged in union organizing efforts.

A lawsuit was filed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) in October 2023. The US Department of Labor also filed a lawsuit last month against the company’s inflight association over the “company union”, alleging SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA) did not perform its legal duties as a representative agency and barred two employees from running in an election for leadership positions due to their support for an independent union at the airline.

The legal battles come as the conservative presidential plan for Trump’s second term, Project 2025, has called for enacting labor law reforms to permit employers to create non-union employee involvement organizations that are run jointly by management. The National Labor Relations Act currently makes it an unfair labor practice for employers “to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it”.The Railway Labor Act, which governs airline employees, has similar language.

SkyWest Airlines, which operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, is accused of financially supporting and controlling the SIA and a handbook for SIA representatives states the airline supports and funds the organization.

In an interview with the Guardian, a former president of the SkyWest Inflight Association from October 2020 to October 2021, said he believed the company funded and controlled the union and improperly administered elections. The AFA requested he go by his first name only, Romero, as he was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Romero also alleged he experienced racial discrimination and was pushed to resign.

Romero explained he was elected president of SIA in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the US in 2020 as corporations were making efforts to appear sympathetic to diversity, equity and inclusion issues.

He said when he first assumed the role, he was excited to enact needed changes but immediately noticed issues and the lack of separation between management and the group and that leadership roles in the group had been a stepping stone to management positions.

“The site is supposed to be the separation of the labor union organization and management, but there’s just so many things that just crossover,” he said.

He explained that he would submit expense reports to Skywest to directly pay the SkyWest Inflight Association staff and add to their work schedules to get paid for activities related to the SIA: “That’s how we would get our money, that is how the organization is paid for by the company, the same company that is supposed to be separate,” he said.

He also alleged all public statements and messages from SIA went through SkyWest’s communications department to review and approve them.

“It’s such a conflict of interest even from the point of they were implementing things for union busting tactics, we would be brought into meetings and we were able to see what domiciles (airports where staff were based) had union activity going on,” he continued.

Romero said when he was first elected, board members would criticize him and alleged one claimed he had a criminal record because they found someone with a similar name, who they didn’t know, had one. He alleged the vice-president had a close relationship with management and consistently undermined him to discuss policies and changes.

He also claimed the SIA elections were never properly administered, such as mail notices not being sent out to employees ahead of elections and flaws with their voting system – allegations made in the Department of Labor’s lawsuit.

In September 2021, days after Romero said he sent the SIA vice-president a cease and desist letter for continuing to meet and speak with management over changes and issues that he believes he should have been included in, he was informed by the vice-president that a recall election by the board was going to be held to remove him.

Then Romero said racist text messages were anonymously leaked about his removal as president. Other flight attendants started a Justice for Romero campaign and a third-party investigation into the texts was started by the SkyWest Inflight Association. Although he never saw any investigative report, Romero said he didn’t hold any trust in it because they seemed to focus on trying to find out who leaked the messages rather than who wrote it.

“They were trying to figure out who the whistleblower was compared to who the alleged perpetrator was and that pissed me off,” he said. “They said it was not conclusive.” He was moved to special projects from working as a flight attendant during the investigation and has since left the company.

“I feel like they really just thought I was going to be somebody that’s going to be a yes man,” concluded Romero. “There is utterly no separation between management and the labor union, from the pay to the voter operating system. Flight attendants deserve to be able to have the opportunity to choose its representative labor organization.”

The October 2023 lawsuit filed by AFA-CWA is still in the discovery process and the union recently filed an amended complaint to include new allegations that SkyWest Airlines managers have surveilled union organizing activities of flight attendants.

“The DOL’s lawsuit again makes clear the SkyWest Inflight Association is an illegal company union operating at the behest of management and not for Flight Attendants it claims to represent,” said AFA-CWA in a statement. “As we have seen, SkyWest management will do whatever they can – including firing long-time workers – to intimidate and attempt to control Flight Attendants. SkyWest Flight Attendants are organizing to form a true union with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA under the Railway Labor Act. SkyWest Flight Attendants want these legal rights at work, a real voice at their airline, protection as aviation’s first responders, and the ability to collectively bargain at the nation’s largest regional airline.”

SkyWest Airlines did not answer questions relating to Romero’s allegations about the SkyWest Inflight Association or about the allegations of discrimination he says he experienced. Commenting in response to the lawsuit filed by the AFA, a spokesperson said: “The Association of Flight Attendants’ (AFA’s) lawsuit is baseless and without merit, and we are confident the courts will agree when the facts are recognized. SkyWest has a legally binding collective bargaining agreement with SIA as recognized by federal courts, the Department of Labor and in accordance with the Railway Labor Act. The bottom line is that SkyWest Airlines and SIA are separate organizations whose collaboration has gained SkyWest flight attendants the best overall pay and benefits in the regional airline industry.”

The current president of SkyWest Inflight Association, Brent Coates, said in a statement: “We value the time and effort of each of our leaders, past and present, and have absolutely no tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind.

“The opinions of a former SIA official – who was on SIA’s Board for less than a year (some years ago) and left office long before their term would have expired – is a poor measure of SIA’s impact and success in negotiating what is clearly the best contract in the regional industry.

“With respect to both lawsuits, SIA is confident in our positions. In the AFA suit, we have already filed counterclaims alleging violations of the rights of SIA and the SkyWest Flight Attendants under several federal and state laws. We look forward to responding to both lawsuits in court. SIA remains focused on providing the highest level of professional representation by listening to and actively advocating for SkyWest Flight Attendants.”

• This story was amended on 14 August 2024 to correct that the US Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against SkyWest Airlines’ inflight association, not SkyWest Airlines itself. It also clarified that the Railway Labor Act, not the National Labor Relations Act, governs airline employees.