ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Talks between regional trade unions and the Caribbean airline, LIAT, ended today with the unions indicating that it is still awaiting the airline’s response to a contentious issue.
President of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), Chester Humphrey, who is also head of the Council of LIAT Trade Unions, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the talks were “cordial” but that there was still a major “sticking point”.
“We have not concluded an agreement. There is one outstanding sticking point and it would have to be an ice breaker, if it is resolved, and that is the notice pay,” he told CMC, adding “other than that we are close to an agreement but unfortunately I can’t announce an agreement yet”.
Talks between the two parties resumed today after the airline on Thursday agreed to rescind dozens of redundancy letters stemming from the closure of city ticket offices (CTOs) region-wide.
Management and unions met last Friday to discuss the Antigua-based airline’s restructuring plans, but the unions complained that termination letters had been sent to workers “while the discussions were still ongoing”.
The unions remained “very annoyed” about the termination letters and that the voluntary separation packages had been circulated to the workers without prior consultation with the unions, said Lawrence Poyotte of St Lucia’s National Workers Union (NWU) who attended the last meeting.
Humphrey, who is also a legislator in Grenada, said that the unions were expecting LIAT to provide a response on Saturday to “our position which is three months pay in lieu of notice.
“It all depends on what happens tomorrow if we are able to resolve that problem then it is a matter of just signing off on the agreement if we are not able to resolve that problem further talks will ensue,” Humphrey said as he boarded a flight back to St. George’s.
The rescinding of the job letters still left the future of the 34 workers in doubt and on Thursday, Humphrey suggested that the talks would centre on transferring some workers and subcontracting ticketing services to retrenched ticket office staff under a regional protocol to govern job cuts still to be agreed on between LIAT and the unions.
“The emphasis here is to try and see how we can save jobs,” Humphrey told CMC.
Earlier this week, LIAT said it is confident that the regional trade unions would work with the company to effect the closure of the CTOs by the end of June. (CMC)
