The Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) has made another demand for the court-appointed administrator of LIAT 1974 Ltd to meet for urgent talks regarding the future of the regional airline’s former workers.
It is the second official move that the ABWU has made to speak with Cleveland Seaforth after its first attempt failed.
This time a deadline of seven working days was stated in the union’s latest letter – a timeframe that ends this week.
In the letter dated August 16 and signed by the ABWU’s General Secretary David Massiah, Seaforth was told that ex-staff had been left languishing for two years “without adequate compensation for their years of dedicated and sacrificial service” to the carrier.
It continued, “In as much as you may not be fully aware of all the matters discussed by the heads of government and the possibility of some governments in the region evincing an intention to form a new regional airline and to liquidate LIAT 1974 Ltd, we maintain that LIAT still exists albeit under administration.”
Two weeks ago, Seaforth had declined a meeting with the union, stating that discussions held by shareholder heads of government were separate from the court-appointed administration process, hence the administrator may not be fully aware of all the matters discussed at such meetings.
But Massiah maintains that “meaningful dialogue with your good self and whomever you chose to be with you is still pertinent”.
“It is therefore imperative that the unions representing hundreds of employees who have been displaced and scores who are still currently engaged with LIAT 1974 Ltd in circumstances that are either unsatisfactory and or openly discriminatory, are kept fully abreast with what is or is not happening …,” the ABWU’s letter to Seaforth read.
Massiah maintains that as LIAT’s administrator, regular consultation and dialogue with employees and their representative organisations is an essential part of Seaforth’s work, especially in light of outstanding issues that are relevant to LIAT’s future.
When the LIAT shareholders last met on August 2, the issue of outstanding severance and other payments was not on the agenda. Instead, the shareholder governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Barbados, and St Vincent and the Grenadines decided to liquidate the airline and hire a consultant to chart the way forward.
That decision has caused anxiety among the airline’s former workers who are owed over EC$80 million dollars in severance and other entitlements.
LIAT has been operating a reduced schedule with a limited workforce since November 2020. Ex-staff have been clamouring for their monies since Covid-19 exacerbated the carrier’s financial problems and sent it into administration in July 2020.
