ST JOHN’S – A three-day strike by pilots of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, ended late Friday after the company reached an agreement with the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) over a demand for increased pay by the pilots.
LIALPA president, Captain Carl Burke, said that a Consent Order was signed late Friday evening between his union and the company that was represented by its acting Chief Executive Officer Julie Reifer-Jones.
The order outlines an agreement on the payment terms for extra money to fly the larger planes and retroactive pay and Burke said that his members would immediately resume flying the ATR 72s, which LIALPA had instructed them not to fly since Wednesday.
The agreement will be formalised Saturday at the Industrial Court where the company had earlier filed an injunction aimed at ending the industrial action.
LIAT had earlier denied that it had “abandoned” it pilots although it confirmed that some of them had themselves away from base as a result of the industrial action.
It said it was “forced to transfer other pilots to these locations to fly the aircraft to move passengers impacted by the delays and cancellations”.
According to LIAT, it operates ten ATR aircraft with the ATR 72 capable of carrying 68 passengers.
“By refusing to fly the ATR 72 on the morning of June 7, several aircraft and passengers were delayed at points of departure, including Trinidad, St Vincent, Tortola and Guyana,” the airline said, noting “in this situation, the company’s priority remains to transport our loyal and paying passengers.”
Reifer-Jones said the company remains committed to meeting the needs of its pilots away from base while acting on the instructions of the company through its Operations Control Centre.
LIAT pilots had refused to fly the ATR 72 aircraft that were acquired by the airline in 2013 as a part of the company’s restructuring plans aiming at fleet modernization and network improvements.
LIALPA in a letter to airline, said it “is not convinced it should subject its members to further exposure and responsibility without the agreed compensation . . . the ATR 72 with its increased capacity over the Dash-8 is in fact increased responsibility in terms of passengers and payload”.
The union said that its members would not fly the planes until the company honours the salary package agreed to in January.
The Antigua and Barbuda government, which is one of the several regional government shareholders, had appealed to the pilots to immediately resume their duties.
The government said that the current strike would ultimately harm the Caribbean and “undermine the probabilities of attracting more governments to share the burdens of providing for our own air links”.
“Its destruction, fuelled by unreasonable demands, can benefit no one,” the government said, urging the parties to continue the negotiations leading to the payment in full “of the amounts agreed-to, in a mutually satisfying period”. (CMC)
