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Long Suffering Former LIAT Employees Ignored by Shareholders

Over 600 former employees of LIAT owed about EC$80 million (US$30 million) in severance payments have been complaining to regional governments for many years. They have tried many different approaches with the hope of being paid including presenting petitions to Governments, engaging in union negotiations with the former employer, court appearances and press conferences with very little positive results. In 2020, it was reported in the press that the court-appointed administrator Cleveland Seaforth said the employees were not likely get the outstanding monies anytime in the near future.  The fact remains however that the cash-strapped regional airline LIAT still owes former employees significant severance payments, and they are suffering. 

In May 2022, the press reported that victimized former LIAT (1974) Limited airline employees were disappointed and frustrated with how they were being treated by the four labour party Caribbean governments over the previous two years, particularly Barbados, Antigua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica. They complained that some were facing foreclosure, while some needed to get psychiatric counseling. The former employees also stated that they had collectively decided to publish their predicament on Change.org, and that at the time of reporting the response had been promising. All this was happening as those who had the authority to stop it was accused of idly watching as the former employees perished.

In early August 2022, the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) expressed its anger at the regional governments' unwillingness to address the situation. This was in response to a virtual meeting which was held by the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on 2nd August 2022 to decide whether to restructure LIAT (1974) Ltd or establish a new airline.  The Pilots were angry because the outstanding severance payment was not a topic that was brought up for consideration during the meeting. 

The governments of Dominica, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines jointly own LIAT (SVG) and at one stage the Government of Trinidad and Tobago owned a small number of shares. What is interesting is that the other islands like Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana benefited significantly from the service provided by the airline and did not contribute to its operational cost. While these same non-participating islands paid foreign airlines millions of dollars to transport tourists from Europe and the USA to their individual islands, they never felt the need to contribute to LIAT. They benefited without contributing as they earned revenue from regional and international travelers.    

In the meantime, this state of affairs have impacted negatively on inter regional travel. Professionals and traders are finding it more expensive and inconvenient to travel throughout the islands. LIAT is bankrupt and yet CARICOM finds it difficult to arrive at an action plan to revive the airline. Employees continue to go through hell in order to get the money that is theirs. They say that banks and debt collectors are contacting them, their children are going hungry and their marriages have broken up. What more can they do to resolve this issue as they try to maintain their sanity? Let us do our part to encourage CARICOM Governments to make a bigger effort to see that all outstanding payments are made in the soonest possible time.  

 

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