In a move that mimics what Delta Air Lines offered its flight attendants last year, regional feeder SkyWest will now pay its flight attendants for boarding time. On May Day, this marks another victory for non-unionized workers.
Non-Unionized Flight Attendants On SkyWest Now Earn Boarding Pay
SkyWest operates regional jets on behalf of Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, focusing on service west of the Mississippi. Anytime you step on a regional jet for one of those four carriers, there is a decent chance you are actually on a SkyWest plane.
In a nod to the fact that flight attendants are indeed working during boarding, Aero Crew News reports that SkyWest flight attendants will now be paid for boarding time up to $23.66 per hour.
Notably, this comes before unions have negotiated any boarding pay on unionized airlines for flight attendants. Contract negotiations are complex and I do suspect that we will see all US airlines eventually offer boarding pay. That said, it is noteworthy that in the current dynamic, it is the non-unionized workers who are winning workplace concessions.
Meanwhile, Sara Nelson, president of the powerful AFA-CWA flight attendants union, just jetted back in business class from a labor conference in Geneva and is busy today posting Marxist rhetoric about the problem of “capital’s chokehold” on labor.
Long week at the @ilo. Exhausted, but thrilled we achieved a strong foundation on Int’l labor standards for aviation workers. ✊ Tell you about it tonight, @jamieson!
Cheers to @itfaviation, and the solidarity of workers around the world. Major plus to fly home with @afa_cwa! pic.twitter.com/bI516SN6T9— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) April 29, 2023
Speaking of Nelson, this tweet did not age well:
Yes. We’ve negotiated boarding pay over the yrs & our contracts have controls on when boarding can start, but this was gutted during the bankruptcies. The only real way to get this done is to organize Delta & SkyWest Flight Attendants (we are) & make this an industry-wide demand.
— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) February 12, 2022
Do not confuse this for vitriol against Ms. Nelson or her organization. I believe her efforts are sincere and on this May Day, I support the right of workers to strike for redress of grievances. There is power in collective action and unions still have the potential to make lives better for those whom they represent. But bloated bureaucracy in which workers see union dues deducted while non-unionized workers earn better wages and benefits does call into question the model. Blaming the actions of Delta and SkyWest on fear (versus common sense or good business) is a stretch. The problem is not unions, but corrupt or ineffective unions.
CONCLUSION
SkyWest will now pay its flight attendants for boarding time. Not coincidentally, this comes as flight attendants at SkyWest face intense pressure from union organizers to unionize. However, it is quite noteworthy that the only flight attendants in the USA who are paid for boarding times are the non-unionized ones. In a tight labor market, some flight attendants are realizing that their quality of life is made better, not worse, by avoiding unionization.
(H/T: One Mile At A Time)
Common Sara Nelson L, once again.
I love the profile flags and current thing circles, so much impact still promoting BLM after all the revelations of fraud and corruption in those orgs alone. I’ll expect the Sudan support soon.
In other news, Severe clashes in Paris today during major protests on International Workers Day: police hit firebombs, major violence. Interesting that citizens in other countries have to take to very violent streets to try to effect change.
..a juxtaposition and perspective for leadership across the unions
hit by firebombs* sad state of affairs.
Genuine question because I’m confused “..regional feeder SkyWest will not pay its flight attendants for boarding time..
is that supposed to be “now”?
Also, are all flight attendants at SkyWest non-union? It is confusing whether this means only the ones that are non-union or just all of the flight attendants at SkyWest are non-union.
Goodness, gracious. Yes, indeed. Thanks Scott.
Ah, good. thank you for the edit.
“I support the right of workers to strike for redress of grievances” but then your hyperlink to a post about the right of workers to strike using “posting Marxist rhetoric”…?
I find such inflammatory rhetoric to be counterproductive.
What was inflammatory about it?
It’s good to know skywest and delta are such benevolent organizations that just love to give their employees more money out if the goodness of their hearts and that this has nothing to do with trying to prevent the union from strengthening. I’m sure if the FA union disappears these companies are going to be even more generous to their employees
Delta has been decent to their FAs with no union. So not sure what union would disappear for them unless you’re suggesting they are operating union by proxy
-The FA union wants delta FAs to unionize.
-Being generous to non union employees prevents them from feeling they need to unionize.
-If there were no FA union in existence the incentive for delta to be generous would be much lower considering people are practically beating down the doors to become FAs
They’ve wanted them to unionize forever and Delta has finessed enough so far to satisfy some of the employees. I wouldn’t want that nightmare myself as either Delta execs or as a front line employee. If your Ed B. are you really trying to add Sara to your daily?
Have you ever read the United AFA news intended for FAs? TLDR; their union is extra—and hella political. Let’s not forget the 2020 slogan “Settle For Biden”—lol. Not impressed with United’s AFA overall from what I’ve seen.
I don’t have a hard opinion on being pro union or not but there is some benefit to eliminating middlemen, red tape, tasers, pointless political rhetoric etc etc
What isn’t political these days?
me 😉
So now Sara Nelson is now saying she’s been negotiating boarding pay for years pre-bankruptcy?? That isn’t something I would tweet out because United or any other airlines the AFA represents has never had boarding pay so this tweet just reinforces the AFA’s failures. The fact that you as a union can’t get something you’ve been trying to get for generations is just another reason why Delta FA’s continue to refuse to vote in favor of unionization. Aero Crew News just a few days ago put out an update most likely from the AFA where it said United wants up to 6 legs per day without extra compensation for what would amount to a nearly 18 h our duty day. Yet over at Delta I hear their limit on any duty day is 4 legs and if I’m not mistaken 16 hours on domestic rotations. Lastly I’ve heard Delta FA’s talk about the compensation they receive from the sale of buy on board items and hear in the Aero Crew News update it states Sara Nelson and the AFA now want United to share proceeds fro buy on board items with their FA’s.
Between AA, UA, and DL DL’s FA’s are the highest paid of those 3 airlines they are the only airline with boarding pay, they are the only airline that compensates their FA’s for selling buy on board items, they have a limit of 4 legs per duty day, their domestic duty day is up to 16 hours, it appears as though they have great work rules, and as a passenger in my opinion DL’s FA’s are the friendliest FA’s of the 3 carriers I mentioned. Why would DL FA’s ever for for Sara Nelson when her record over at UA and the AFA is one of failure and now she stated in order to get industry wide boarding pay Delta and Skywest FA’s need to unionize. That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard and it shows that United is winning the fight when it comes to boarding pay and any UA FA’s holding out hope for boarding pay has a better chance of being struck by lightening than getting boarding pay as a UA FA.
Some good points about Delta’s efforts and also AFA, however I wouldn’t personally term four legs and 16 hour duty days “great work rules”. Going for ‘greAAt’ maybe, otherwise, idk.
As far as Delta’s FA’s being the friendliest, idk. I see a fair amount of elitism from the Delta FA’s I follow on socials. To be fair, that’s certainly not unique to Delta. but there’s def a lot of ego in ATL alone.
I just flew Delta and the crews love long duty days because they can get extra work hours in a more concentrated period.
This was more the Continental approach whereas legacy United FAs had shorter duty days and longer rest periods, which many did not like because overall it meant they were gone more days each month.
thanks, makes sense. kind of like working three-16 hour days as RN’s or whatever. The toll on the body just seems so extreme though.
Re: Sarah
Its hard to live the dream…..