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| Pilots, LIAT Issues Not Fully Resolved |
| By Sheena Brooks |
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Passengers getting on a LIAT plane |
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A tentative truce between LIAT and its pilots was reached on Monday (July 5), however indications are that all contentious issues may not have been resolved in the process.
The airline issued a press release earlier this week stating that a three-man arbitration panel had finally ruled on some of the longstanding problems, including salaries and holiday pay.
“LIAT wishes to confirm that the decision of the LIAT-LIALPA Arbitration Panel was received on Monday 5th July 2010. The three-member Panel which was led by retired Barbadian jurist Mr. Leroy Inniss and included Mr. Herald Wilson, retired Director-General of Civil Aviation of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and Captain Desmond Ross a retired pilot and former Chairman of LIALPA, decided upon key aspects of the new Collective Agreement,” the statement read.
LIAT CEO Brian Challenger described the resolution as “an extremely balanced approach to the outstanding areas of disagreement that have plagued relations between LIAT and LIALPA [the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots’ Association] over a number of years”.
LIAT did not reveal the details of the new agreement, however The Observer understands that some issues are still outstanding which may be cause for concern for both parties as well as the air-traveling public.
This media house was reliably informed that the pilots who participated in the two-day sick-out had their pay docked for that period. The Observer contacted Desmond Brown, LIAT's Corporate Communications Manager who refused to confirm or deny the allegation.
“The company did not issue any such statement saying people were not paid for those days; that came from the Pilots’ Association so I think you should speak to someone from the Association about that,” he stated.
The Observer was also reliably informed that although the arbitration decision is in principle binding, it would have to be incorporated into a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. It was also said that LIAT did not foresee any difficulties regarding establishing the new Agreement and having it signed by both sides. However, until that is finalized there are no guarantees that matters are fully resolved.
“We now look forward to sitting down with LIALPA in arranging for the finalization of the documents to reflect the rulings and recommendations of the Arbitration Panel. Our legal and finance teams are already hard at work in this regard and we hope that we can finalize this matter with LIALPA in a timely manner,” Challenger said.
He continued, “As we have maintained all along, LIAT remains committed to an equitable and just award for our pilots: one which is consistent with what is happening in the economy and industry generally, which reflects what is happening with our other employee groups, and which is sensitive to the company’s ability to continue to function as a going concern.”
After LIAT management announced in June that a salary dispute between the airline and Pilots’ Association had been resolved, the pilots had threatened a show of resentment if the company did not retract the statements, as no resolution had been arrived at in the meeting. The LIALPA staged two days of industrial action on June 16 and 17, which caused hundreds of flights throughout the region to be grounded, and left thousands of passengers stranded. The pilots had staged a similar action in May 2009, which had cost LIAT upwards of EC $350,000.
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