Episode 22: What Changed When I Joined a Union.

Romero Malone joined Stephanie McIntosh to talk about what it’s like to have a real voice at work! Romero is a former SkyWest Flight Attendant and SIA President who now flies for United Airlines. Listen or watch on your favorite platform.

Episode 22: What Changed When I Joined a Union

On It's Time Live, former SkyWest Flight Attendant and SIA President Romero Malone talks about the difference between having a voice on paper and having one that's enforceable.

This week on It's Time Live, we sat down with Romero Malone. Romero flew the line at SkyWest and served as SIA President before moving on to fly for United, where Flight Attendants are represented by AFA-CWA. Romero has now seen both sides: an in-house company association and a real union contract.

The conversation kept coming back to one idea. At SkyWest, the Policy Manual is written by the company, for the company, and it says so plainly: pay, per diem and other terms 'can be made at any time' by the company, and SkyWest 'retains authority... [for] creating or revoking Company Policy' (SkyWest FA Policy Manual SP-2303.1, p. 15). A Flight Attendant can raise a concern, but there's no outside enforcement behind it.

A union contract works differently. It's negotiated by Flight Attendants, signed by both sides, and enforced through a grievance process that ends with a neutral arbitrator at a System Board of Adjustment, not a company panel. Romero's experience going from SIA to AFA is one Flight Attendant's window into that difference, not a promise about what any future SkyWest contract would say.

The episode is embedded above, so you can hear it in Romero's own words. Loud. Proud. Positive!