Caribbean Airlines negotiations still up in the air

CARIBBEAN Airlines (CAL) pilots have been left wondering how long they will continue to be ignored, as three days have passed since they delivered a letter to the Minister of Finance through the TT Airline Pilots Association (TTALPA) concerning a proposal on a nine-year-old collective agreement, but still have not got a response.

Industrial relations consultant Timothy Bailey said on October 17, “At this point, they want to know what really going on. It is such an important job, and they are not even taken being seriously.”

Bailey said on October 14 TTALPA hand-delivered a letter to the minister at his office at the Twin Towers on Independence Square in Port of Spain.

TTALPA is currently operating under the terms and conditions of a collective labour agreement for the period 2010-2015. The agreement period expired in 2015.

It provided proposals for the following negotiation period, the 2015-2020 term, on October 24, 2019. It is still awaiting a response for that proposal.

The airline claims it is awaiting instructions from the Minister of Finance.

It has also claimed that pilots were entitled to annual three per cent increases, but TTALPA has since denied this, saying the incremental increases had nothing to do with the collective labour agreement.

On October 17, a four-page advertisement was published in local newspapers listing pilots’ associations from various countries expressing their support for TTALPA. The advertisement included responses from 12 different organisations.

On October 3, 30 pilots represented by TTALPA marched through the Piarco International Airport with placards in hand.

Bailey said while the membership does not have any plans for further action at the moment, he hopes pilots will not have to resort to expressing their displeasure at the state of negotiations.

“There are limited actions that pilots can take, but notwithstanding that, they don’t think that it should have to come to that.”