CAL security officers walk off job

Officers of Intercept Security Ltd walked out of the Piarco International Airport on Friday evening as they were told they had lost their jobs.

CEO and company lawyer for the security firm Valmiki Samaroo told Newsday that on Friday he was sent a letter from Caribbean Airlines (CAL) that said his officers had “virtually lost their contract” of employment with the airline. He said that after he alerted his officers and began reaching out to CAL officials for an explanation, a CAL agent told them to go home because they were fired.

Samaroo, whose officers provide counter narcotics and counter terrorism security for the airline, said there are a lot of complications with the entire process. “There’s an ongoing incident. The sense of the officers is that there’s something peculiar going on and their jobs were being jeopardised.”

He said that was not the first time this had happened in the 16 years his company had been working with CAL.

“They (his officers) have been told things like this before and they usually stay, but because I was sent a letter and I told them about it, they believed the situation.”

He described his officers as diligent and effective and said something was not right about the situation.

“My officers have been working with them since BWIA (British West Indies Airways Ltd) days. We have to see how we can address this.”

Samaroo said he was currently in talks with his officers and the CEO of CAL.

Attempts to reach officials from CAL proved unsuccessful.