Unionisation holds up merger talks between Caribbean airlines

by Desmond Brown BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Nov 25 CMC – The issue of unionisation remains a major sticking point in merger talks between officials of Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) and its main competitor Caribbean Star, owned by Texan billionaire, Sir Allen Stanford. Following a meeting late Friday at the Grantley Adams International Airport between LIAT’s Chairman Jean Holder and officials of the Regional Trade Union Consultative Group, the group’s coordinator, Chester Humphrey told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that he was satisfied that the LIAT board understands their concerns. However, he said they were still not sure about the position of the Caribbean Star chairman on the issue of the rights of trade unions. "Trade Unions will be guided by what actually occurs on the ground," Humphrey said. "We are not oblivious to the occurrence not too long ago of the dismissal of several Caribbean workers by Mr. Stanford for the very simple act of joining a trade union. That to us speaks more than any declaration of intent, but unions will have to do what they have to do." The Regional Trade Union Consultative Group comprises trade unions which represent LIAT workers in all the islands where the airline operates. Friday’s meeting was also attended by Sir Leroy Trotman, the Secretary General of the Barbados Workers Union. For several weeks now, LIAT and Caribbean Star have been holding discussions about the merger and the three major Caribbean government shareholders in LIAT have said that they expect the new entity to become operational early next year. However, a few weeks ago the talks were said to be in jeopardy because of Stanford’s no-union policy. Both Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and his Vincentian counterpart, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves have publicly stated that workers in a merged entity should not be denied their right to join a trade union of their choice. The governments of Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are two of the three major shareholders in LIAT, with the Barbados government being the third. "When you meet someone with an attitude as reflective as that, quite often, that individual may have to learn the hard way," Humphrey said of Mr. Stanford. "While we don’t intend for that necessarily to happen, if it is necessary for trade unions to go back to the classroom in order to teach a student then that is what we would have to do. "We have no philosophical problem with the LIAT side, there is no difficulty there, there’s difficulty on the other side and sometimes life presents us with lessons that we have to learn in a very practical way." The LIAT chairman said that the airline has worked with trade unions for 50 years and his "mandate going into discussions with our partners on the other side has really been that the workers of LIAT certainly have the right to join a trade union of their choice." "We have been negotiating with that as a mandate from our principals and cannot resign from it as we go forward into discussions," Mr. Holder told CMC.