Present and former LIAT pilots have hit out at one of the shareholder government leaders of the airline over recent remarks he made concerning the workers’ roles in the company’s collapse.
The administrators of the Leeward Islands Airlines Pilots Association (LIALPA) are protesting comments made by St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, that the staff are to blame for the airline’s demise.
“The Leeward Islands Airlines Pilots Association (LIALPA) is disappointed and saddened by the unfortunate comments made by the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and Grenadines, The Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves recently in the media,” said the association in a statement issued on Monday. “You have been silent for virtually two years and in your first address, you found it most fitting to chastise the workers in their time of need. We view the notion that the workers are to be blamed for the failure of the airline as inaccurate and a cheap shot,” LIALPA declared.
The pilots contended that the airline has always been “tumultuous” for reasons beyond the staff’s control.
“What should be of supreme importance to you sir, and the other shareholder prime ministers during these unprecedented times of financial fallout for workers, is to collectively solve the issue of owed entitlements to the terminated workers,” the representative body for the LIAT pilots pointed out. “Terminated workers have been on the breadline since April 2020 and are in dire straits.
“We are forced to remind you sir, as far back as 2013 in the Beverly Sinclair interview on Time to Talk in Grenada, you told Ms Sinclair that LIAT is not an ordinary business and without it we could not get from one island to another,” the LIALPA recalled. “Lastly, you created the rationale that we were lucky if it broke even. In at least three of the last audits conducted, the directors of the board – some of whom you have appointed – admitted that the airline was insolvent,” the statement said.
The bargaining agent for the pilots noted, however, that the directors were guaranteed that the shareholders would support, finance, and amend laws to keep the airline operating.
“The workers were not responsible for the high taxes on tickets, the scheduling of unprofitable routes, the selection of various management, the costly selection of the ATR aircraft, the hangar fire which destroyed vital technical historical records for the aircraft and for the hurricanes which ravaged the region,” LIALPA argued.
The pilots’ body also recalled that in a 2019 meeting in Barbados between the shareholders and unions to discuss the state of the airline, a request for a pay cut of 10 per cent was made to the union
“LIALPA agreed to a six per cent cut, but the proposal was ultimately refused by the company and viewed as not being sufficient. Whose fault was that? At that time Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua & Barbuda stated that ‘you could not ask the workers to give more’, [and that] ‘a partial pay cut was better than none’,’” the LIAT pilots’ staff association recalled.
“The workers suggested baggage fees which are common in the airline industry [and] that was flatly refused by you. Other Prime Ministers have also made comments such as ‘LIAT has 10 days of cash left’ which severely impacted the confidence of travelers. Two former Prime Ministers of Barbados asked the company not to retrieve the funds from CLICO and instead of the company doing the right thing to protect the workers’ interests, they gave in to political pressure and left the money in CLICO,” LIALPA claimed.
The organisation asked: “Where is CLICO today and who was involved in the protection of that company?”
LIALPA contended that every step of the way the workers had remained loyal while making “many” sacrifices with regard to delayed salaries, other outstanding monies, no pay increases, and the disregarding of workers’ rights through the years. “Despite these impediments, these issues did not hamper our drive to be one of the safest airlines in the region if not in the Western Hemisphere. LIAT had an envious safety record transporting yourself, other Prime Ministers, citizens and tourists alike. Now, to be discarded as used and spent entities,” LIALPA added.
The association accused Gonsalves of showing no empathy for the plight of the LIAT workers.
“We don’t need platitudes… We need leadership from the four shareholder prime ministers,” the statement said.
The representative group urged the LIAT shareholders to take a leaf out of the book of St Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre who honoured payments to the St Lucian former workers. (EJ)
