The Avelo Warning

What Happened at Avelo

In April 2022, Avelo Airlines flight attendants voted to join AFA-CWA. The airline was barely a year old at the time. Only 14 FAs were eligible to vote under NMB rules, 12 actually voted, and 8 voted yes. That was enough. AFA became the exclusive representative for all Avelo flight attendants.

Fast forward to 2026. The airline now has over 200 flight attendants. There is still no contract. No CBA. Nothing on paper protecting those workers.

In the meantime, Avelo management closed three bases (Mesa, AZ; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Wilmington, NC), removed six aircraft from the fleet, and ended its participation in the DHS charter program. All of this happened in January 2026, announced with minimal notice.

With no contract in place and a membership that felt abandoned by their union, the door opened for something worse: a corporate-funded campaign to strip those flight attendants of their union representation entirely.

How It Unfolded

Who Is the Center for Independent Employees?

The decertification campaign at Avelo isn't being run by flight attendants who woke up one morning and decided to organize against their own union. It's being run by the Center for Independent Employees, a professional anti-union organization that does this for a living.

Here's what you need to know about them.

Let that sink in. The president of this "workers' rights" organization simultaneously runs a company that gets paid by employers to fight unions. He works both sides. CIE brands itself as protecting workers from "union oppression," but its funding comes from the same corporate network that funds anti-union legislation across the country.

The State Policy Network Connection

CIE is an associate member of the State Policy Network (SPN). If you've never heard of SPN, that's by design. It's a national web of state-level "think tanks" and advocacy groups that push corporate-friendly, anti-union policy.

According to the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation, SPN and its member organizations are major drivers of the corporate legislative agenda at the state level, with documented ties to the Koch brothers' political network and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). SPN's corporate funders have included major corporations across industries.

This is not a grassroots organization. This is not flight attendants helping flight attendants. This is a well-funded machine that targets unions for decertification, and Avelo is their latest project in aviation.

CIE's Decertification History

Avelo isn't CIE's first target. They've been doing this for years, and they have a playbook.

They don't just show up at airlines. They target teachers, funeral workers, metal workers, anyone with a union. And they provide "free legal services" because the real funding comes from somewhere else entirely.

The Decertification Card Playbook

Here's how the campaign works at Avelo, and how it could work anywhere.

CIE, operating as "Avelo4Us," approaches flight attendants and asks them to sign authorization cards. By signing, the FA is formally stating they no longer wish to be represented by AFA and want to hold a decertification election through the National Mediation Board.

If they collect signatures from at least 50% of the flight attendant workforce, the NMB will schedule an election. If decertification wins, the FAs lose their union. No more collective bargaining. No more representation. Management gets to set the terms unilaterally.

This is the part that should concern every Breeze FA. The approach is designed to feel informal, even friendly. But a signature on a decertification card is a legal act that can strip you and every one of your coworkers of union representation.

Why This Matters for Every Breeze FA

Look at the parallels.

The difference right now is that Breeze FAs haven't reached the breaking point. But if leadership continues to leave the membership in the dark, if there's no visible progress on these open contract sections, and if FAs keep feeling like their concerns go into a black hole, the frustration will build.

And when it does, organizations like the Center for Independent Employees will be ready. They watch for exactly this: a union that hasn't delivered, a membership that's lost faith, and an opportunity to step in with a "solution" that just happens to eliminate workers' bargaining power entirely.

The company doesn't have to bust the union. They just have to wait for the union to fail its own members. Then an outside group funded by corporate interests does the rest.

What We Do About It

The answer isn't to give up on the union. The answer is to demand better from it.

Leadership needs to communicate consistently and clearly with the membership. Not when it's convenient. Every time there's a development, every time there's a session, every time the company makes a move.

There need to be real systems for logging and tracking member issues. Not an email address where concerns go to die. Actual tracking, with confirmation codes, status updates, and follow-through.

There needs to be aggressive progress on the CBA. Twelve open sections two years in is not acceptable. The membership voted 76.3% for representation. They deserve to see results.

And there needs to be accountability. If leadership isn't delivering, someone has to stand up and say so. That's not being anti-union. That's being pro-union in the way that actually matters: making sure the union works for the people it represents.

I ran for Council 32 Secretary-Treasurer because I believe in that. I'm not afraid to call it out when leadership is failing. Because the alternative, the Avelo alternative, is losing the union altogether. And once it's gone, it's gone.

Where This Comes From

Everything on this page is sourced from public reporting, organizational filings, and published union communications. Nothing is made up. Nothing is exaggerated.