Opposition calls for urgent meeting to restore air services

Opposition Spokesperson on Transport, Mikael Phillips, is calling for the government to immediately convene a conciliatory meeting with air traffic controllers who have taken industrial action.

Phillips says the government needs to move to ensure a quick return to normality as flights for tourists and Jamaicans are already affected, leaving people stranded in airports and hotels in Jamaica and globally.

He is arguing that the industrial action and the resulting disruption of Jamaica's air services were preventable had the government acted on several warnings over the past week and had taken the necessary actions.

“Consequently, the Ministries of Finance and Transport must take full responsibility for the closure of the island's airspace and the massive economic and security fallout which will inevitably occur,” said Phillips in a statement.

The opposition spokesperson said there had been loud rumblings and there was enough time to hear and settle the issues of concern to the air traffic controllers.

He said while the government forges ahead with its compensation reforms, it is becoming increasingly evident that at all levels of the public sector, workers have either not been adequately consulted or are simply being left in the dark.

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