The Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) explored options for providing severance payments to former employees of LIAT (1974) Ltd just before the airline ceased commercial operations. The Administrator, Cleaveland Seaforth, announced last Thursday that over 90 employees would be made redundant without pay from February 4, 2024. Seaforth assured that the company would meet its obligations and provide applicable entitlements within 45 days of his letter.
Despite Seaforth’s promises, the ABWU’s General Secretary, Senator David Massiah, criticized the lack of consultation with the union in decision-making. Massiah expressed concerns about transparency and communication, raising questions about the fairness of the redundancy process. The ABWU is actively seeking answers and exploring legal avenues to ensure proper severance pay for LIAT workers.
The government, citing cash flow concerns and limited ownership stake (32%) in LIAT, expressed inability to cover the full cost of severance payments. This uncertainty has left workers anxious about their financial future. The ABWU, undeterred, is pursuing legal strategies to advocate for workers’ rights.
Former LIAT workers were offered a compassionate payment of 50%, later reduced to 35%, by the government, but only a few reportedly accepted. The government pledged around EC$30 million to support LIAT (2020) Ltd, ensuring necessary aircraft, maintenance, and operational arrangements for reliable service delivery to the region.
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The very stupid union is at it again. They have played politics over the back of the workers and have led them through a dead end road. And we now have come to the end of the road. And they still want to remain relevant. The workers have everything that happens to them blame on themselves. They were warned to accept the 50% offer, but the union told them to go for 100% or nothing. The present LIAT 1974 employees in Administration are not unionized. They have no union representative. It was a temporary employment and the administrator doesn’t report to anyone but the court. The other shareholders Barbados and St. Vincent have long ago throw in the towel and requested that the company be liquidated. Antigua and Barbuda stood in the way and tried to resurrect it. But to no avail. Now the final nail is in the coffin. Antigua has also pulled the plug. A New LIAT 2020 is been born and will take to the skies very soon. Lucky employees will find new employment. Based on the generosity of the government, our tax dollars will be taken to pay some sort of compassionate severance. The only losers are the workers. And that thanks to the union playing politics. They should be ashamed with themselves. But then again those men/women have no shame when it comes to achieving their political goal. They wanted the ABLP party fail so bad at the last election that they did any and everything nit in the interest of the workers. Even the Jolly Beach Workers that the government owed no such liability to pay them severance, were called on to demonstrate against this government for their severance. Luckily for them the government made good and sold the property while ensuring the workers got paid. But it need to be mentioned that the government was never the owner of Jolly Beach. It was the bankrupt ABI Group. They fled the scene and left all these liability all over the place. Even when they bankrupt the bank they fled the scene and left all the liability for the government to carry. And for those who do not understand what that means, some people in Antigua and Barbuda got rich by milking a financial institution and when the rubber hit the road they fled the scene and were never held accountable for their mischief. And these set of Men and Women are mostly UPP supporters and sympathizers. You don’t hear nothing about them now because they are behind the scene, wishing and hoping that the UPP wins the election once again so they can re-surface once again. In the end the Tax Payers of this country will have to pay all these bill. So when people complaining about what the government doing with our taxes, you will never hear them mention that the government is paying back hundred of millions of dollars in liability left by the gang that ran the ABI Financial Group into the ground. Of which ABIB alone amounted to $300 million
@ Less We Forget :Yep the Governments Depositors Trust, among those who had funds at ABIB was Social Security. I heard Dwight Venner recommended that those depositors be allowed to drown. For many of them this was the savings they had placed there for their retirement.
I can bet Seaforth was paid in full
He also collecting all the interest from the account
For someone e who was to be here for only 4 months,now he’s there for like 3 months.
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