BARBADOS TODAY: Severed Barbadian employees of LIAT are anticipating a final resolution to their more than one-year-old severance payments impasse when they meet again shortly with Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
Spokesman for the group, former pilot Neil Cave, at the same time lambasted Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne over remarks he made on St Lucia’s Choice Television on Tuesday while providing an update on the state of play regarding the beleaguered airline workers.
Cave told Barbados TODAY: “Prime Minister Mottley has made a commitment to the beleaguered former Barbados LIAT workers on May 5 this year to use her good offices to intervene in order to attempt to bring some form of resolution to the issue of severance.
“The Prime Minister also committed to meet with us again, that is, the former Barbados staff, following the hundred days of May 5 which is coming up shortly. We are anxiously awaiting the convening of this meeting when the PM returns from her leave and hope that this longstanding matter can be brought to a just conclusion and to the benefit of the former workers who continue to struggle.”
The 100 days are up on Friday.
When Mottley met with the former workers, she offered them a one-off gift of $2 000 along with a $2 000 per month loan spread over a year.
After the May 5 talks, her Press Secretary Roy Morris said the workers agreed to the immediate formation of a small working committee to liaise with the Government to ensure all information necessary for the fulfilment of the promised assistance is available to the relevant agencies and the former LIAT workers would meet again with the Prime Minister in 100 days.
But while Cave and his colleagues wait to meet again with Mottley, he did not mince words in taking on the Antiguan leader whose actions he described as insulting, disingenuous and cruel to the former workers.
Browne drew the ire of the dismissed airline employees’ spokesman for once again claiming that their unions continued to refuse to accept an offer made by his government of 50 per cent of their severance benefits in the form of cash, bonds and land.
Cave said: “This narrative needs to be clarified as his government has not put forward any specific details on what he has repeatedly purported to be an offer. Simply put, Prime Minister Browne in my opinion continues to mislead the public at large into believing that there is a tangible offer on the table and that the former staff are refusing it. This is plainly far from the reality.”
The senior pilot explained that the workers from across the region have no idea what is being offered in terms of a breakdown of the cash, bonds and land.
He went on to contend that the concept of land would not even benefit former employees who live outside of Antigua.
The spokesman said: “How can payment of land in Antigua benefit the scores of terminated workers who reside outside of Antigua and Barbuda? In my opinion, what Prime Minister Browne is doing is insulting, it is disingenuous and it is cruel to the former workers who are owed a hundred per cent of their severance based on the laws of his land.
“It is also unbelievable that, at this point, 18 months later, that 636 former workers that supported this regional institution continue to suffer without severance and their other due benefits owed to them at termination.”
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Even the educated are showing that they are dunce. The PM of Barbados proposal is to give them a onetime $2000 gift and the rest being a monthly loan for $2000 per month for one year. And that is acceptable to them, but a proposal to get 50% of your severance in a combination of cash, land, or bond, they cannot comprehend is a far much better deal. They want to know how much will be in cash, how much land and how much bond. Well Mr. dunce, it all depends. Once you accept the 50% deal then you negotiate the various payouts. Not every employee is due the same amount of money. A person that is due ten thousand will perhaps be able to get it all in cash. While a person that is due five hundred thousand will have to negotiate the best combination. What of this is so difficult to understand. And let’s say you do not live in Antigua and land doesn’t mean much to you today. You know you can leave the land to your children or grandchildren. And there may come a time when the value of that land is more than the value it is today. While the time value of money may depreciate because of inflation. What you can buy for a dollar today you cannot buy for a dollar tomorrow. These so-called educated pilots my know a lot about flying a plane, but when it comes to finance they better keep quiet, rather then to open their mouth and expose their ignorant.
I wouldn’t expect anything different from your rass Dumbline. I wonder if you would say the same if you were one of the pilots.
All good for you to sit on the (sideline ) and quarter Back but he and 635 other workers had the shoes on for 18 months so how dare you come calling people dunce go back in your hole and keep sniffing brown butt.what about all those millions owed to hard working paying customers ?
Listen you want people to feel sorry for you all. Not me. There are many other workers waiting now for years and cannot get their severance. Some of Stanford workers are waiting since 2009. Halfmoon Bay workers are waiting from since 1995. Jolly Beach workers are waiting since 2014 and the list goes on. So why you guys think you are so special. At least you guys have been offered something. better than nothing. And my advice to you dunce people is to understand it’s better to have something then nothing. And the sooner you guys realize that the better. You have life, start over, no matter how hard. A business venture could perhaps bring you more money than your entire severance. Let me tell you I know of people died and never saw a dime of severance from Half Moon Bay. After working for tens of years for the hotel. The hurricane came damage the hotel and the owners saw that as thir reason to never open it again. I’m sick of you guys thinking you are so pitiful. When things were good pilots from LIAT were known to be the best paid. And still not the mention the amount of sick leave they took. Anyway, let me hush now.
This is a re-run of a story printed some time ago!!! . I wonder what is the motive behind dusting off this unenlightening story to give it an appearance of it being a current affair. The Bajan’s expressed contempt for the PM of Antigua and Barbuda and his comical fawning over his own Bajan PM should surprise no one. It’s the Bajan way! As a former LIAT Pilot, he must know that his group contributed in no small way to LIAT’s demise. He must know that his PM was one leading the troops to dump LIAT once and for all! Clearly pilots, once held in high esteem, if this one is characteristic of the rest, is no better than my taxidriver friend whose own level of reasoning and discourse places him on a much higher level than that whining ex-driver! Go right head and accept the crumbs being offered you for your instant, short term gratification. In the meantime, kindly leave Antigua’s PM alone! You and yours, from cook to captain, need to grow some balls!! (figuratively speaking, of course!)
With people thinking like you and sideline we can tell witch side of the fence your sitting if your shoes is fitting too tight get some slippers it seems like you guys have your problem with Barbados but remember Barbados was always first to help you guys whenever there’s a problem how you think the salaries got paid after Stanford incident it was a Caribbean effort to make sure Antigua and Barbuda don’t fail all left to do do is for those workers to come together and take legal action against Liat I’ll let the chips fall Where Ever.
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