ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) has criticized Prime Minister Gaston Browne over recent statements alleging that the union has been politically motivated in its advice to the former employees of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT (1974) limited.
The ABWU views Browne’s comments as a “deliberate distortion of the reality and mischievous as best.”
Last year, the Antigua & Barbuda government offered two million EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) to partially satisfy the cash component of the compassionate payout to those former LIAT workers here.
Last Thursday, Browne implied that the ABWU has political motives to delay the human settlement.
But in a statement, the union said that it is aware of the recent comments made by Prime Minister Browne, maintaining “its position that while the shareholder governments may not have a legal obligation to the ex-workers, they have a moral responsibility to reach a mutual settlement with the former employees.
“Such a settlement must consider the workers’ reasonable expectations of their terminal benefits. This position is held by all of our partner unions throughout the Caribbean; it is not the conjecture of a single union working in isolation to aid a political party.”
Last week, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said he wanted a “humanitarian’ resolution to the ongoing pay dispute.
LIAT, which the governments of Antigua and Barbuda own, Barbados, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), owes millions of dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) to its former employees, including pilots, who through their unions have been demanding the payments owed.
The unions are disappointed that their shareholder governments have not addressed severance payments to the former workers, even as the airline has had a reduced schedule since November 2020.
“The issue of the payment of severance pay is a matter of the law, but we believe that some form of compromise should occur. That’s our personal opinion. It is not the position of the entire shareholders of LIAT, but our unique position,” Skerrit said, speaking on the state-owned DBS radio.
“Something has to happen, and I am hoping we can find a way of addressing it at some point, especially during the discussions for a new entity. But this will have to be dealt with by individual governments, and I am not in a position to indicate what place each government should take.
“But I believe that we should find a solution. I know some governments have made some proposals to some of the unions. I believe that all of us in it must come to the point of compromise. We will have to look at the laws in the respective countries, and I don’t want to speak about the law issue; I am speaking purely from a humanitarian standpoint,” Skerrit said.
The ABWU said that Prime Minister Browne’s “mischievous statements” were designed to “continue to manipulate the former workers into relinquishing their just claims to severance or fair settlement by accepting his government’s “compassionate offer.
The union said that Prime Minister Browne’s “compassionate offer” is anything but compassionate.
“At best, it should only be the starting point for discussions. To date, more than half of the workers have rejected this offer. The ABWU applauds the dozens of workers who have refused to trade their hard-earned benefits for a fraction of the value.
“The ABWU remains committed to securing a fair and reasonable settlement for LIAT’s ex-employees, and we reiterate our call for dialogue. We condemn any intimidation, manipulation, and mischief by the Prime Minster or any of his agents.”
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