Antigua-based LIAT workers to receive compassionate payout

The Antigua & Barbuda government is providing EC$2 million to partially satisfy the cash component of the compassionate payout to former local employees of regional airline LIAT.

A statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister said that the funds are being made available to the court-appointed receiver for LIAT, for distribution to former LIAT workers in Antigua.

“This sum is intended to meet partial satisfaction of the cash component of the compassionate payout which the Antigua & Barbuda government has volunteered. It extends this compassionate offer, though the government has no legal obligation to make any such payments,” the statement said.

It added that the distribution “is a compassionate payment, intended to bring some Christmas cheer to those who have been unable to earn incomes since they were severed”, and that “the payment is limited to former LIAT workers resident in Antigua & Barbuda”.

Last week, the Browne administration maintained its position regarding the severance offer made to former employees of the airline, insisting that it would only meet 50 per cent of the severance cost of all LIAT workers.

The position was reaffirmed at the weekly cabinet meeting.

“The unions have yet to accept the legal position regarding the government’s obligations and are still seeking to engage the government, with the aim of having further negotiations. The cabinet has reiterated its position and will not be involved in any further discussions regarding any possibility of negotiations of the issue of its compassionate offer,” the statement noted.

The Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association had asked the government to reconsider the position with the regional trade unions, saying they were united in seeking the millions of dollars owed to the workers and have rejected the latest offer from the shareholder governments.

The airline is owned by the governments of Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Last year, Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda Gaston Browne said it’s been decided that Barbados and St Vincent would turn over their shares in LIAT to Antigua for EC$1.

Last month, Browne appealed to Caribbean trade unions to rethink their positions regarding the latest offer made to laid-off workers of the airline. Antigua, which is leading the restructuring of the regional carrier, has said it will be unconscionable to use taxpayers’ money to pay LIAT staff 100 per cent of the monies owed to them, even where the government’s liability was no more than 34 per cent of the airline.

“The offer of a compassionate payment is the result of a clear understanding that the share value is $0 and the government has no legal obligation to pay,” the Browne administration said.

CMC