LIAT announced on Sunday that it’s experiencing delays and cancellations with flights across the region, but a company representative said Monday that flights through the Virgin Islands won’t be affected.
The airline blamed the delays on “industrial unrest” — a term it didn’t explain — but media throughout the Caribbean have reported in recent weeks that the airline and its employees were in a heated dispute over LIAT’s plan to implement a system which would defer the payment of a part of its employees’ salaries for at least five months.
According to the Antigua Observer, the Standing Regional Consultative Council of Trade Unions — which is representing the LIAT employees — said they would reject any deferral proposal until LIAT takes certain steps: presenting a plan for how the deferral will allow the airline to return to “normalcy;” providing a comprehensive audit of the company; and meeting with the union to discuss the way forward.
The SRCCTU also reportedly said that its members participated in a salary deferral exercise in 2014 that was supposed to last for only five months but ended up lasting 14 months without any tangible results.
According to Barbados Today, the coalition of unions also threatened that its members would “take action” if the airline implemented its deferral plan without meeting the RCCTU’s demands.
Apparently, the organisation did not have its demands met, as online reports indicate that an ongoing strike at the airline will continue until at least next week.
The St. Lucia Times reported on Sunday that unions representing LIAT employees will meet with the company’s shareholders next week in Barbados with a view to resolve their dispute.
LIAT has also reportedly written to the chairman of its shareholder governments, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, asking him to “urgently intervene” in the dispute.
Meanwhile, however, LIAT customers should call the airline’s reservations team before heading to the airport, the company said on Sunday.
“LIAT’s management sincerely apologises for any disruption to the travel plans of our valued passengers at this time,” said LIAT CEO Julie Reifer-Jones. “We remain committed to working with our employees to resolve the issues currently impacting the delivery of our service to the Caribbean.”
Reached by phone on Monday, a representative for LIAT’s offices on Beef Island said that flights through the VI will not be affected by the dispute, but declined to say whether any LIAT employees here were participating in a strike.
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