ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – THE Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) is going to court to fight an injunction preventing them from taking industrial action against the company.
LIALPA Chairman Michael Blackburn said the association would be going to Barbadian attorney Dr. Richard Cheltenham to mount its defence to the injunction.
“We are going to seek to have [the injunction] thrown out by the High Court. In any event, that injunction is only valid in Antigua. Industrial Court in Antigua has no jurisdiction in Barbados…this is a sovereign country. You cannot issue an order to anybody not to take or to take action in any country,” said Blackburn.
On Friday (May 22), LIAT filed an injunction in the Antigua and Barbuda Industrial Court against LIALPA restraining the association’s pilots from taking any industrial action or continuing any further industrial action, whether by means of strike, go-slow, sickout or any other related action.
The move came after a day of sickout action by pilots in Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad that resulted in the cancellation of 11 flights in various islands including St. Lucia, Martinique and Curacao.
The Antigua Sun reports that the pilots have been negotiating for a new contract as well as settlement of issues of overtime and public holiday pay. According to Blackburn, LIAT had agreed to settle the contract issue by March 31 or take the matter to arbitration. However, the deadline came and went with management seemingly disinterested in making progress on the issue.
The Chairman declared that although there are currently no plans to continue industrial action, the current status quo is “unconstitutional” and “restrictive”.
“The court order puts a restraint on the constitutional rights of workers. It says we can’t take action regardless. So, if they fire 10 pilots tomorrow we can’t take any industrial action,” he protested.
