28-year wage claim grounds LIAT flights

The Antigua-based regional airline, LIAT, faced with industrial action by its workers in Grenada, cancelled a number of flights into that Caribbean island on Monday, while assuring customers that it was seeking a resolution to the matter.

"Intensive efforts are on-going between the management of LIAT and the minister of labour in Grenada, Glynis Roberts, in a bid to bring normalcy back to the carrier's operations at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA)," the airline said.

The workers, who are represented by the Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU), have been on a 'go slow' since July 25.

LIAT said that the dispute surrounds a claim by the union that the company owes the workers EC$6 million (US$2.2 million) in overtime payments dating back to 1983.

The airline said that over the weekend, management met with Roberts, who has been asked to mediate in the dispute.

Corporate Communications Manager Desmond Brown said that LIAT maintains a standard collective bargaining agreement of an eight-hour working day, exclusive of any meal break, throughout its network, but the union's claim was based on an eight-hour work day inclusive of a one-hour meal break.

He noted that both sides had proposed various measures for resolving the dispute and that LIAT was seeking ways to respond to the minister's initiatives.

Brown said that TAWU's multimillion-dollar claim, going back to 28 years, would clearly impose strains on LIAT's finances.

Over the weekend, TAWU president Chester Humphrey warned that the go-slow would escalate and that regional affiliates would be asked to throw their support behind the union.

Ridiculous position

Humphrey described the position adopted by the airline during the talks here "as totally ridiculous" adding "it was clear they were not negotiating, it was clear that they were not prepared to uphold agreements which they made earlier".

TAWU said under the terms of the collective agreement, workers should have received EC$18 (US$6.60) for meal allowances plus overtime payment

Humphrey said that LIAT has indicated it is only prepared to meet arrears dating back to 2005, a position which he described "as entirely contradictory.

"You cannot have an invalid claim and yet be prepared to make a payment on a claim of invalidity," he said, noting that LIAT was also not willing to pay the meal allowance, claiming it was a mistake in the agreement.

Humphrey said that his union had discussed the new proposals submitted by the labour minister and "we came in a spirit to make some compromise, but LIAT was not prepared to make any compromise or to concede on points to which they had already conceded and, therefore, we felt it was pointless continuing those discussions; they were going to lead to nothing and, therefore, we took our exit from the meeting.

"Where does that leave us. I am sorry to say, but it seems the Grenada Carnival is in deep trouble because from here on we are going to intensify the struggle."

Brown said that figures from the 2010 Grenada Carnival indicated that LIAT moved the largest number of passengers into and out of the country, and it was LIAT's hope that full services could be resumed virtually immediately.

"LIAT has already committed to adding a morning service out of Barbados, and it was hoped that this could be expanded based on the level of employee cooperation on the ground in Grenada."

- CMC