Across SkyWest, Flight Attendants have spoken. Hundreds of voices across all our bases built this list, and every item on it is something we can win when we form our union and negotiate a legally binding contract.
The survey stayed open for ten months. Subscribers to the SkyWest AFA email list were invited and reminded over that time, so a trip, a bid month or a commute didn't keep anyone from being heard.
Right nowManagement decides everything, from pay to schedules to benefits.
With our unionWe elect Flight Attendants from our own ranks to lead negotiations, backed by AFA-CWA's legal power and industry experience, and management must bargain in good faith on the issues we care about.
The results
Here's what SkyWest Flight Attendants are demanding.
Eight priorities, in the order they appear in our report. Tap any bar for the demands and the words behind it.
Share of respondents who raised itTap a row
93% demanded immediate pay raises. The overwhelming majority asked for at least $5 to $15 an hour across the board, or pay aligned with the highest-paid airlines.
We are done being paid second-rate wages while doing first-rate work.
Our pay should match the value we bring to the company.
88% called for immediate fixes to unpaid time: airport sit pay and pay for every minute on duty. SkyWest has since added boarding pay, but on a temporary basis. Nothing locks it in, and it came without the other protections a contract would carry alongside it, like a commuter policy. Management can take back what management gave. A contract can't be rolled back.
We're the only people in the airport working for free. That ends with a contract.
Trip and duty rigs, no more free sits, and no more stolen time.
72% listed schedule flexibility as a top demand.
Stop the no-drop zones.
Fix PBS so it actually works for us.
Let us manage our own schedules without punishment.
70% said reserve is the most abusive part of the job. The demands: end breaking guarantee, longer call-out times, and minimum day guarantees on reserve.
You shouldn't have to spend all day trapped by a phone just to be abused after sitting unpaid for hours.
57% said commuter stress is destroying quality of life.
Positive space rights.
Company-paid hotels when stranded.
No more commuter punishments for travel issues we can't control.
48% said layover hotels are a disaster. The ask: contractually guaranteed safe, clean, quiet hotels, and better rest protections.
Our safety and rest shouldn't be treated like an afterthought.
46% cited bad insurance and weak retirement options.
Our benefits are expensive and useless.
We need real healthcare, and retirement pay matching like the rest of the industry.
95% said we need our union so we can finally have a contract with legal protections: rules management can't rewrite, and rights we can enforce.
We want a contract that they can't just change when it's convenient.
It's time we have enforceable rights, not just policies written by corporate.
0%
said SIA is ineffective or worse.
SkyWest Flight Attendants are also fed up with the SkyWest InFlight Association. In their words:
"SIA protects the company, not us."
"I've never seen SIA fix anything."
"They exist to keep us quiet, not to represent us."
"SIA is management's tool to block our voice."
"They have no legal authority to negotiate binding contracts."
That's the truth:
SIA is company-funded and controlled.
SIA has no legal right to enforce agreements, fight discipline, or guarantee pay.
With AFA-CWA, our union gains the legal power to negotiate and enforce a contract.
The answer
With AFA-CWA, we will finally have real power.
✓Real pay increases we vote on
✓Guaranteed pay for sits, holds, and every minute at work
✓Fair scheduling with flexibility and transparency
✓A reformed reserve system that respects our time
✓A commuter policy that recognizes real life happens
✓Quality rest and hotel standards that can't be stripped away
✓Affordable, effective benefits and retirement protections
✓A legally enforceable contract to hold management accountable
FOLLOW THE MONEY
SkyWest management finds money for stock sales, bonuses and PR stunts. Not for Flight Attendants.
JUL 28 – AUG 3, 2026In six days after the Q2 earnings report, four SkyWest executives sold $12.86 million of their own shares: CEO Russell Childs $5.72 million (50,500 shares), CFO Robert Simmons $2.76 million, EVP Operations Greg Wooley $1.92 million, Chief Commercial Officer Wade Steel $2.45 million.
PURCHASESZero. Every recent insider transaction on file is a sale, not a buy.
BUYBACKSkyWest has spent about $437 million buying back 7.3 million of its own shares and expanded the authorization to $750 million. Money spent to lift the share price, which lifts the value of the shares executives are selling.
Source: SEC Form 4 insider filings and SkyWest's own earnings disclosures, as reported Aug 2026. Insider filings are public at sec.gov.
The solution is solidarity
We will win the contract we deserve.
"We're done begging. We're ready to bargain."
In the words of SkyWest Flight Attendants. We win not because management wakes up generous, but because we stand together.
