{"id":145714,"date":"2022-01-31T09:48:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T13:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=145714"},"modified":"2022-01-31T09:50:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T13:50:48","slug":"upp-leader-promises-to-pay-liat-workers-severance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-leader-promises-to-pay-liat-workers-severance\/","title":{"rendered":"UPP leader promises to pay LIAT workers\u2019 severance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SEE VIDEO BELOW FOR LOVELL’S FULL COMMENTS:<\/strong><\/p>

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POINTEXPRESS:<\/strong>\u00a0The leader of the United Progressive Party, Harold Lovell, has promised to pay LIAT workers their full severance should his party win the coming elections.<\/p>\n

Lovell gave the \u201csolemn undertaking\u201d during the UPP\u2019s first major political rally last week.<\/p>

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\u201cThe United Progressive Party is giving you a solemn undertaking that the matter of your severance and your entitlements will be paid and we will treat it as a priority.<\/p>

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\u201cThis is not a matter of compassion. This is a matter of a moral, legal and spiritual obligation to the workers of LIAT,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n

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While the UPP leader did not indicate where the money would come from to pay off the local ex-workers of the bankrupt airline, he did offer suggestions on how his party\u2019s promise could be fulfilled.<\/p>

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\u201cThrough negotiation, consultation and compromise with you, the workers and your union representatives, we will get this outstanding matter resolved once and for all,\u201d said Lovell.<\/p>\n

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Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cracks in the faltering regional airline finally gave, and major shareholder governments, including Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, finally threw in the towel, taking the position that they would no longer continue to financially prop up the troubled carrier.<\/p>

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The Gaston Browne-led Antigua and Barbuda government, however, made a valiant move to save the airline through legislative manoeuvring, but this meant that a financially wrecked LIAT was not in a position to meet its obligations to its creditors and former staff.<\/p>

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The Browne administration has made millions of dollars available in the form of a \u201ccompassionate\u201d settlement to cover up to 50 percent of LIAT\u2019s outstanding obligation to its Antigua and Barbuda based workers.<\/p>\n

While more than 100 people have been said to have accepted the payout which takes the form of cash, university scholarships, government issued bonds and land, many others have insisted that anything less than the full amount owed is inadequate.<\/p>\n

Those among this number is president of the Leeward Islands Pilots Association (LIALPA) Patterson Thompson.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Thompson said that both the \u201ccompassionate payment\u201d offered by Antigua and Barbuda and a BD$2000 payout along with another BD$2000 advance on severance payments by the Barbados government were unacceptable.<\/p>\n

He argued for a long term solution to be devised to address the plight of severed LIAT workers. \u201cIt\u2019s not an offer of compassion because there is an agreement. I have to give up my rights to anything that can be done in liquidation, so it\u2019s not compassionate.<\/p>\n

Compassion says \u201cWell, I\u2019m going to give you this money unconditionally,\u201d so let\u2019s take that compassionate talk back. Thompson said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had any money for 21 months.<\/p>\n

Are you saying we\u2019re not worth it? We\u2019ve been operating the airline \u2013 ground crew, mechanics, flight attendants, office staff, pilots \u2013 you want us to retool, but we don\u2019t have the money to retool.<\/p>\n

People\u2019s homes will now be in stock. People will have to leave school, some may have to leave their islands.<\/p>\n

How is that compassionate?\u201d Thompson asked. At present, LIAT is operating limited flights and routes with a skeleton staff who have taken as much as a 50 percent cut in their former salaries.<\/p>\n

Approximately 500 people across the region who were directly employed by LIAT were put out of work after the airline\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n