Union wants CAL workers to be given land

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The Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union (ACAWU) says if Caribbean Airlines (CAL) intends to retrench 450 of its staff, their retrenchment packages should include residential and agricultural lots.

The union’s general secretary, Peter Farmer said the same benefits given to former workers of state-owned Petrotrin and Caroni 1975 Limited, should be afforded to CAL staff.

The union met virtually with its membership on Thursday and Farmer said the workers believe the retrenchment exercise is ill-advised at this time.

“That considering that by 2023 CAL would return to pre-COVID-19 level earnings from passenger and cargo traffic, the $110 million plus, planned for the payment of retrenchment would be wasteful spending,” the release stated.

On Monday, the airline announced it would be restructuring its operations after a $172 million loss in the first quarter of 2021. That restructuring includes the retrenchment of 25 per cent or approximately 450 of its staff. The company has already indicated it intends to retrench between 95 to 115 pilots during this exercise. CAL will also cut routes and its fleet as the airline said forecasters anticipate a grim outlook for the industry until 2023.

Farmer said he was again calling on the airline to meet with the union to discuss any action before moving forward.

Both parties have been locked in a battle since CAL was formed in 2007, as the company denies it was a successor of BWIA and maintains the union is not a recognised majority union (RMU).

AWACU has relied on a 2017 Industrial Court ruling which found CAL was BWIA’s successor and the unions that existed under BWIA should be granted their RMU status. CAL has since appealed that decision but a ruling is yet to be handed down.

Yesterday, Farmer said there are many workers who have been “temporarily” laid off without pay for the past nine months. He said the workers believe that the money the company saved by not paying them for the past nine months will now to used to fund the retrenchment exercise.

“In other words, the workers feel that they would be paying to retrench themselves…That the first thing that needs to be done before any retrenchment monies are paid is that they should receive their salaries for the nine months that they have been laid off.”

He also claimed the company was not taking action against its employees in Jamaica and said that suggests the company was trying to get rid of ACAWU.

Meanwhile, the meeting between the airline and the T&T Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) carded for Friday was cancelled. TTALPA’s executive administrator, Shelly Sadaphal told Guardian Media a meeting was set for 10 am on Friday, after CAL wrote to the union on Wednesday.

“They responded (Thursday) afternoon stating some schedules could not permit and we were requested to propose alternative dates for next week and to let them know of any specific data that we require them to present at our first consultation,” Sadaphal said.

She said the union was in the process of determining which data it needs.

“We hope to receive the data so that we can have meaningful consultation as prescribed both in law and under the terms of our Collective Agreement.”