CARIBARENA Antigua

The Chairman of the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) Captain Michael Blackburn said the union will pay the monies deducted from the salaries of pilots  of the regional airline, LIAT, who reported sick for two days earlier this month.

“I am going to recommend as Chairman that LIALPA pay all the pilots the shortfall. I don’t have the authority at this stage but I expect to get it in a couple of hours,” Blackburn said.

“We will be paying from our Industrial Fund all the pilots who have lost money…and then they (LIAT) will be held to pay,” he added.

LIAT said it would make the deductions from the June salaries of the pilots after they called in sick on June 16 and 17 crippling the operations of the island-hopping carrier.

In a letter to the pilots, a copy of which was obtained by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), the company said “we are not aware of any medical phenomenon which would explain the affliction of so many pilots, from one airline, at the same time, across to many islands.

“LIAT has accordingly concluded that your refusal to work was part of a concerted response to your union’s call to action and constituted industrial action.”

The company said that it was advised by its lawyers that it is settled law that “where an employee takes industrial action, the employer is entitled to refuse to pay him for the period during which he was on industrial action.”

The action by the pilots affected more than 6,500 passengers and forced the cancellation of 244 scheduled flights.

LIAT said it sustained significant financial losses as a direct result of the pilots’ action and holds them “ liable for the losses attributable to your action.

“In that regard, I am instructed to advise you that the company reserves its rights to recover such losses from you should there be a repeat of such action,” LIAT added.

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Comments (6)

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babies
written by 7, July 01, 2010

All Liat pilots s**k! dem too greedy, dem like vampires.

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LIAT
written by Completely fed up, June 30, 2010

I am always one to be swayed on the side of workers when it comes to workers rights. However, on this one, these pilots have to be stopped. It cannot go on like this. I need to get 2 employees from one island to another for an urgent business meeting and I feel concerned about the reliability of LIAT with another industrial action looming. In simple terms fire the pilots....there are other capable pilots out there looking for work

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TO MR GOODWILL
written by LIAT PILOT, June 30, 2010

MR GOODWILL U NEED TO KNOW THAT THE AUTHORITY TO BOARD THE Pa*sENGERS IS THAT OF THE GROUND STAFF EXCEPT FOR MAINTENNANCE. SO MR PILOT OR MR KNOW IT ALL GET UR INFO CORRECT BEFORE U MAKE SUCH IRRESPONSIBLE STATEMENTS. THIS IS THE MANAGEMENT OF LIAT RULES - PILOTS DO NOT CONTROL THE BOARDING OF Pa*sENGERS EXCEPT FOR MAINTENNANCE. FURTHER MORE THE FLIGHT PLANS R REPETITIVE - I HOPE U KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.

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...
written by Mellow, June 30, 2010

Goodwill, in an airline like Liat, the pilot is not responsible for ensuring that a flight plan is in place before the flight. There is an operations department that is suppose to do that prior to each flight everyday. The pilots' job is to request the flight clearance from the tower before the flight. Unless you are in this industry you would not really know how things work. Before blaming anyone, you should check the facts.

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goodwill 2
written by joe joe, June 30, 2010

Also captain Burk apologized on the way down from Antigua to puerto rico for the action which the pilots took but he did not seem in the least concerned about the pa*sengers who were waiting on the flight from Puerto Rico to Antigua. Maybe because his flight plan from puerto rico to st vincent was ok.

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Goodwill
written by joe joe, June 30, 2010

I am in full support of the pilot action but I notice some trends that need to be addressed. The pilots took action which affected many caribbean travellers including me but I understand and support their plight. Therefore there is goodwill to the pilots from other persons in the caribbean like me. This goodwill was affected two saturdays ago as i waited onboard a hot aircraft in puerto rico for nearly an hour only to be told to deboard the aircraft because there was no flight plan. Now I was very disappointed in the pilot, who is very senior, and i voiced it loudy by saying “these are the same guys who want a big raise.” I made that statement because as a senior captain he ought not to have boarded that aircraft unless he had the a*surance that ATC had received the flight plan. His excuse to me was that it happened everyday but my response was that if it happened everyday then why wasn’t it being resolved. This incident which resulted in me arriving at work one hour and other incidents of other pilots laughing and giggling like school children with the flight attendants will affect the public perception of the pilots.

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