BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– The Government has offered a helping hand to just under 100 displaced Barbadian workers of LIAT, who will get some relief by early next week.
During an hour-and-a-half-long Zoom meeting with dozens of the former employees who have been waiting for well over a year for entitlements from the Antigua-based regional airline, Prime Minister Mia Mottley promised that each person would receive a one-off gift of BDS$2,000 (US$1,000) by Friday, or early next week, at the latest.
The money is being provided in the interim, as authorities try to put other measures to offer further relief over a longer period.
All former Barbadian LIAT employees who were based here paid contributions into the local National Insurance Scheme, and are therefore entitled to severance, will now benefit from expedited hearings by the NIS Tribunal.
It is expected that these hearings will also begin as early as next week, hoping that they will be wrapped up in time for payments to be made just after the end of the month.
Prime Minister Mottley explained that it had become necessary for the cases of these workers to go before the Tribunal since the Judicial Administrator of LIAT in Antigua, Cleveland Seaforth, had so far failed to sign and deliver to Barbados the paperwork that would have automatically triggered severance payments.
The other significant group of LIAT workers being assisted comprises Barbadians based primarily in Antigua, from whose salaries deductions were made to that country’s Social Security Scheme and entitled to severance under that country’s laws.
Arrangements are now being put in place to allow them to receive an advance of BDS$2,000 (US$1,000) per month from the Government of Barbados, to be paid back at a future date from any eventual severance settlement.
Prime Minister Mottley explained that this would be provided for up to a year, with earlier termination if they can find alternative employment.
She stressed that she understood that while the money would not equate to their salaries or erase the debt and hardships they have accumulated since they stopped working, she was trying to assist them while balancing that against Barbadians’ other urgent needs.
In the face of a direct request from the employees who related their encounters with banks and other creditors, the Prime Minister promised to reach out to the sector on their behalf to solicit payment eases.
The workers also agreed to the immediate formation of a small working committee to liaise with the government to ensure all information necessary to fulfill the promised assistance is available to the relevant agencies. The former LIAT workers will meet again with the Prime Minister in 100 days.
President of the National Union of Public Workers Akanni McDonald, and Acting General Secretary Wayne Walrond, thanked the Prime Minister for the support being offered to the workers by the Government.
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