{"id":125195,"date":"2025-12-14T05:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/?p=125195"},"modified":"2025-12-13T23:36:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:06:51","slug":"largest-us-attendant-union-faces-election-fraud-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/largest-us-attendant-union-faces-election-fraud-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Largest US Flight Attendant Union Faces Election Fraud Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UTAH-<\/strong> SkyWest Airlines (OO)<\/a> and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA)<\/a> are now embroiled in an intensifying legal dispute linked to events at SkyWest\u2019s base, a conflict that has also raised concerns referenced by some as the SkyWest Election Fraud controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case has advanced after a Utah District Court allowed a conspiracy-based computer fraud counterclaim to proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contentious allegations were made against AFA-CWA by a staff association representing crew members at the major regional carrier SkyWest Airlines, which provides services to the likes of Alaska Airlines (AS), Delta Air Lines (DL), and United Airlines (UA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2023, AFA-CWA sued SkyWest over accusations of serious labor law violations tied to its funding of the SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA). In response, SIA filed a slew of serious counterclaims against AFA-CWA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Largest
Photo: By Cliff from Arlington, Virginia, USA – SkyWest Airlines, CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=29576111<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Skywest Faces Election Fraud Claim<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA represents more than 50,000 flight attendants and stands as the largest crew member union in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, it has tried but failed to become the official union of around 4,600 flight attendants at the Utah-based regional carrier SkyWest Airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2019, SkyWest has funded an independent staff association for its crew members known as the SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA for short).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIA serves as the only body allowed to negotiate with SkyWest management over pay, conditions, and internal policies, although AFA-CWA has questioned SIA\u2019s true independence or ability to negotiate on behalf of SkyWest flight attendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dispute between AFA-CWA, SIA, and SkyWest came to a head in 2023 when the airline sacked two veteran crew members after they exposed what they claimed were serious security flaws with an internal election held by SIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to PYOK<\/a>, the terminations of Price and Grange followed their disclosure of vulnerabilities in SIA\u2019s voting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Largest
SkyWest CRJ-200; Photo- Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Election Website Vulnerability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In April 2023, one of the flight attendants who was later terminated discovered that SIA\u2019s supposed secure website could be easily manipulated by changing the URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This then allowed access to confidential information like crew member names, their ID numbers, and voting credentials for SIA elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew member shared this information with a coworker and an AFA-CWA representative. But rather than also immediately reporting the vulnerability to SIA, the trio allegedly sat on this information, according to SIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than that, SIA claims the three hatched a plan to quietly access the vulnerability each month, and AFA-CWA\u2019s agent allegedly instructed one of the crew members to \u201cquietly download\u201d information from the SIA secure website each month, the association claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This continued until August 2023, when SIA held internal elections. After votes had already been cast, another crew member produced a video explaining the vulnerability, which ultimately led to the ballot being abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Skywest
Photo: Tom\u00e1s Del Coro | Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SIA Files 8 Counterclaims Against AFA-CWA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AFA-CWA filed its suit against SkyWest in October 2023 over what it described as \u201cextraordinary violations\u201d of labor law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit almost immediately followed SkyWest\u2019s decision to terminate the two flight attendants who had exposed the security vulnerability in SIA\u2019s secure website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIA responded with eight counterclaims against AFA-CWA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n