LIAT Pilots Return To Work

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua CMC – The regional airline, LIAT, said last Friday, that its operations were returning to normal after pilots ended their industrial action.

The pilots, last Tuesday, walked off the jobs forcing cancellations and delays by the airline that flies to more than 21 destinations on a daily basis.

The pilots, through their bargaining agents, the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) blamed “misguided and ill-informed decisions” taken by the airline’s management for the action, adding also that it was forced to hold an emergency meeting to brief members on the “management’s unfortunate actions and to chart the way forward”.

In a brief statement, Friday, the Antigua-based airline, which is owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, quoted acting Chief Executive Officer Julie Reifer-Jones, as saying that full service has resumed throughout the LIAT network.

“LIAT acknowledges with regret the inconvenience and disruption passengers throughout the region have experienced over the past few days.”

Meanwhile, Chester Humphrey, the head of the regional negotiating body for LIAT unions, has dismissed a suggestion by Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit that the airline be deemed an essential service.

“If a worker cannot withdraw his labour, then a management cannot fire,” said the veteran Grenadian trade unionist, who is also secretary general of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL).

“Philosophically, we are fundamentally opposed to any provision which would prevent a worker from withdrawing his labour. A distinction between a free man and a slave is the right of a free man not to work. A slave has no such right.

“To tell me that because I refuse to work you will give me a custodial sentence is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of human rights in a democratic society,” he added.

Skerrit told the online Barbados Today newspaper, said that he was concerned that the regional travelling public was being held to ransom every time there is industrial action at LIAT, whose major shareholders are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Skerrit said it was frustrating for passengers to have to travel to the airport, in some instances long distances, only to be told that the plane is not coming because the pilots are on strike.

“I don’t think we can build a region and a tourism product unless you address this particular problem. I am hoping that the matter can be resolved this evening,” he said noting however “this might just be a temporary fix (and) we need to find a permanent fix”.

He told the online publication that the permanent fix could be along the lines of an essential service, adding “I think there is a case to be made for that”.