TTALPA welcomes Imbert's input to CAL talks

CRAIG RAHAMUT head of the TT Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) on Friday welcomed the idea of Minister of Finance Colm Imbert getting involved in the protracted talks between Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and the pilots.

Newsday had asked him about the minister's intervention after recent reports his ministry had ordered an audit of CAL-TTALPA talks.

Might Imbert expedite the talks or could such involvement be seen as ganging up against the pilots?

Rahamut replied, "What we were told at the last negotiations was that it has to go before a Cabinet sub-committee.

"We would like to think the Minister of Finance would be fair to the pilots and the profession. So we think it is a good thing going forward."

"However, we are just concerned about the time-frame, because these things could get stretched on because of that."

"We are looking for fair treatment, because that's all the pilots want, to be treated fairly."

Rahamut lamented these talks had been under way since 2019.

Newsday asked what the minister could bring to the talks.

"We are hoping we can have an open ear, because our proposal has not come off the top of our heads. We do a lot of research in presenting these proposals coming forward, based on facts and figures.

"We would appreciate if there is a party that can properly analyse this research we have done and move it forward."

Newsday asked if TTALPA would have confidence in Imbert, a person who attracts both positive and negative commentary.

Rahamut replied, "As far as we are aware the Minister of Finance is the guy in charge of CAL. Not too much the Ministry of Finance but more so the minister himself."

He said that as corporation sole, Imbert would have the final say if any proposal was made for the talks.

"TTALPA does not want to make this political. It is not political.

"The fight has been the poor management at CAL – the way these things were done – the negotiations and the treatment of the pilots and the staff at CAL."

Rahamut said CAL staff wished for better working conditions in general.

Asked what discontent TTALPA had with CAL's approach to negotiations, he said, "The fact that I said negotiations for this period started in 2019 and we are now four years later shows that there is no great urgency. TTALPA would love to have it settled as soon as possible but it takes two parties to tango and the other party has not prioritised that at all. Asked the cost to become an airline pilot, Rahamut replied upwards of US$100,000 (or $700,000).

He said the salary paid to pilots should take account of the awkward hours they worked and the resulting strain on their bodies.

"One night we might be going to work at midnight, and two days later we are going to work at 6 am.

"So your body has to learn how to sleep during the day, wake up during the day; sleep during the day, wake up during the day. It destroys your body.

"People don't understand what we go through. Pilots are always sick." Otherwise he said it was a great profession.

Of the negotiations, he concluded, "We want to work with the parties towards an amicable solution."