SkyWest Labor Fight Goes “Computer Fraud”: Judge Greenlights Conspiracy Claim Against Flight Attendant Union AFA-CWA

A federal judge in Utah just allowed a claim to proceed against the Association of Flight Attendants AFA-CWA for conspiring to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the long-running effort to unionize regional carrier SkyWest’s crew.

This case started as a labor dispute. AFA claims SkyWest is interfering with the right of flight attendants to organize by maintaining and operating a carrier-funded in-house group (the SkyWest Inflight Association) that functions like a “company union,” and by retaliating against union activists.

SkyWest and the flight attendant association disagree. The flight attendant group argues that AFA-CWA crossed a legal line to obtain information and undermine their elections and legitimacy. They allege the union encouraged a flight attendant to engage in unauthorized access to confidential information.

While the judge threw out several claims, he preserved conspiracy allegations tied to accessing confidential information. Here’s what’s alleged:

• A SkyWest flight attendant and AFA unionization supporter discovers he could log into the SkyWest Inflight Association’s password-protected website and manipulate the URL to reach non-public data — including flight attendant names, employee ID numbers, and voting credentials.

• He shared instructions and links with AFA’s representative Gailen David (context on David), who allegedly asked for the information to be “quietly download[ed]” every month.

• The association held its internal election, and the flight attendant created a video showing how the security flaw could be exploited – leading the third party platform to refuse to certify the results. (This is not part of the claim against AFA.)

SkyWest operates regional flights for American Airlines, Delta, United, and Alaska.

(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)