Young slams 'entitled' pilots: CAL disruptions 'really bothered me'

ENTITLEMENT. This is what Energy Ministry Stuart Young believes was the basis of actions taken by some Caribbean Airlines (CAL) pilots which left thousands of passengers stranded on Sunday. Admitting the incident "really bothered (him)," he said there are others who are in greater need of state resources.

Young was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Cascade Community Centre on Monday afternoon.

Last weekend, 60 international and domestic flights were cancelled after 75 pilots called in sick on Saturday and Sunday.

The airline has since been granted an injunction by the Industrial Court to prevent a repeat of this.

It also said, "It is to be noted that the airline is currently in negotiations with the TT Airline Pilots Association (TALPA) over a collective agreement for the period 2015-2018."

Young said it struck him that there was a "complete shutdown of our national airline by a handful – a literal handful – of individuals who thought that was the way to treat not only the citizens of TT, but...a wide wide customer net of international travellers as well..."

He said the treasury is a "limited pot" from which many people must be looked after, including the vulnerable, the aged and hospital patients, as well as supporting the education and health-care systems.

"There is nothing wrong with persons having a desire for more, but it is how you go about making those claims on the limited pot. And for a handful of pilots to have done what they did yesterday – a literal handful – and the repercussions and effects that that will now have on the Caribbean airline, it really bothered me as a citizen of TT...

"And when you trace that back, it is all about entitlement," he said.

He urged the public "not to fall into those traps" as during the height of the covid19 pandemic, taxpayers "put money, that was difficult to come by, into CAL to keep it because we believe there's a policy that we should keep a national airline, which is a luxury and not an absolute necessity, going.

"We must always think of all the others in our society and not only see what is in front of us right here."

He said during recent campaigning ahead of the August 14 local government elections, he saw first-hand that "there are others who are in greater need of the state resources and the help and the assistance than some of those who are already living a life of entitlement.

"So today, the message is gratitude."