BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE fate of holiday flight operations at LIAT (1974) Ltd. would be determined after today’s (Apr. 8) meeting of the airline and the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) to resolve an ongoing dispute over the payment of pilots.
The airline has been wrestling with its pilots for over three months now due to demands for increased salaries by the air staff. Tempers flared once again last week when it was rumoured that LIAT would be granting significant bonuses to its executive members before addressing the pilots’ requests.
According to a press release issued by LIALPA last weekend, LIAT may be considering “AIG type management bonuses” for its Board of Directors, a move the association cautioned would have “serious repercussions”.
The statement also indicated that the pilots had “made it abundantly clear to the Chairman of LIAT's Board that any such bonus payment, prior to settling a new LIAT/LIALPA Collective Agreement, will cause immediate industrial action”.
Speaking to SKNVibes, Corporate Communications Manager Desmond Brown referenced the statement issued by LIALPA, calling it “false and irresponsible”—especially as it relates to the salary projection that management is hoping to reach in today’s meeting. He informed that the meeting is expected to allow both parties to come to an agreement for the smooth operations of the airlines.
“Negotiations between the two sides are continuing. We commenced these on March 11, which was much later than we had expected since we asked for the proposal by the association to be in by January 15. Yet we received LIALPA’s report about three months after.
“Negotiations are for the union to make a proposal to the company to see how best we can arrive at an agreement amicable to both sides. The company might not be in a position to give the kinds of increases people may ask for in their proposal, but we will explain that [to the association] and see what best solution we can make,” Brown said.
He also informed that the ongoing discussions have not affected the company’s operations, and indicated that he does not foresee any associated interruptions during the upcoming holiday weekend.
“We hope that these discussions conclude as quickly as possible. The negotiations with the associations have not affected business at all. In fact, we are operating as normal. We had a good month in March and we are hoping for the same this month,” Brown said.
Many travellers are still questioning, however, if their holiday weekend would be interrupted if the talks were to turn sour.
SKNVibes spoke to one LIAT pilot, who said that if “push comes to shove” they would seriously consider industrial action, but also noted that would be a last resort and that he did not expect flights to be delayed during the Easter weekend, even if a deal is not reached today.
A similar incident occurred in December when pilots threatened to strike during the busy Christmas period due to LIALPA believing the airline was in breach of Antigua’s Labour Code by requiring pilots, based on that island, to work on public holidays at the normal rate of pay.
In that case, industrial action was foregone after negotiations between the two parties.
