Grounding goodwill

NO ONE begrudges the right of pilots to earn a decent salary, but the costly disruption triggered by events over the weekend has surely erased much goodwill or sympathy when it comes to their position amid ongoing negotiations with state-owned Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL).

Almost 40 flights were cancelled, many of them international, placing tremendous pressure not only on travellers who had their plans upended, but also on CAL staff and company systems which have now had to be deployed to make up for the backlog.

Seats on the inter-island ferry had to be taken up, travellers had to be placed in hotels and CAL had to go to court to obtain an injunction against industrial action, though the pilots denied such was taking place. The airline reported "a remarkably high volume" of its pilots called in sick.

Whatever the words used to describe them, Sunday’s events were well-co-ordinated and had the effect of sending a clear message.

The costs are not just to be calculated in terms of a few days’ disruption, however, but in terms of the damage to the reputation of the airline, the region’s primary carrier, and the economic costs associated with a transport infrastructure rendered unreliable.

This comes after the deep disturbance caused by the covid19 pandemic and its lingering economic fallout.

The CAL disruption also came days after Air Canada grounded its plans to resume flights to this country amid its own industrial-relations issues, and notwithstanding the advent of visa-free travel between Canada and TT.

Maybe a new virus is spreading.

For sure, the willingness of workers to stand up for their rights is something that is spreading internationally, with transport workers in the UK striking, as well as Hollywood writers and actors picketing in the US.

Also for sure: pilots in this country deserve to be paid fairly and to safeguard their position, especially with the rapid technological developments that have changed industrial relations globally. It is unfortunate that the public-sector pattern of salary negotiations taking place years overdue is evident in this case, effectively cancelling out the sense of a “living wage.”

But after it posted its first-ever profit in 2019 (US$4 million), CAL's revenue nosedived as the pandemic hit. While international travel is back and back with a vengeance (the US International Trade Administration estimates travel is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels) much uncertainty looms, given fluctuations in fuel prices and the global political outlook.

It is one thing for pilots to send a message, it is another thing to penalise people who do not have a say: the travellers. Action which does so is even harder to justify in the context of soft economic gains which have seen other workers settle for four per cent increases across the board. While pilots have borne the brunt of deep cuts, they should find acceptable ways to get their point across.