LIAT owes its staff about $94 million in severance and holiday that it is unable to pay, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has said.
Gonsalves, the chair of LIAT shareholder governments made the disclosure while speaking on WE FM on Sunday.
He said the in addition to severance payment LIAT has also suffered losses.
“In 2019, it lost about EC$14 million. Well, that was recovery of sorts from the hole in 2017 and 2018. And then COVID hits in 2020 and over the period with COVID, we have lost about $35 million. It’s a big sum of money.”
“Because even though they laid off about 500 workers, they kept on a staff of about 168 across the network. Then, for maintenance of the aircraft, insurance, repatriation of staff and health insurance coverage and rental of office equipment, utilities, that number comes up to about EC$10.8 million. And then you have about –their paid booking at May 2020, LIAT had paid bookings of US$4.3 million outstanding.
“Now, these are things which the liquidator would have to deal with. But severance payment in total, for all the workers, as per the existing collective agreements, which is not necessarily what the law of Antigua would specify but I am taking the law of Antigua in relation to insolvency, the number may be smaller, but if you are dealing with just the existing collective agreements, you’re looking at 83.9 million in severance payment and there are people who have vacation pay and for all the countries, it’s another $10 million in vacation pay, so you are talking about $93.9, call it $94 million,” Gonsalves said.
“Insolvent, LIAT doesn’t have any assets to pay anybody anything,” he said.
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LIAT workers stand up and fight, speak out your lives are on the line. These failed politicians are all about keeping the people in the caribbean under a dictatorship. If you allow them to control your mines they will control you for ever
Just lakka dat? Tarl man. Hope you nah say ah you can just wark way from de debt owed!
It is time to declare bankruptcy on this LIAT thing ASAP and get it over with.
We can create a new CIP category of investment for an Antigua based-airline, but LIAT is over.
Please PM, get this LIAT airline closed down ASAP!
Where is the money?,smhhard
$94 million owed to its workers. LIAT has been and still is in my opinion a cesspool for corruption.I have been pushing for the longest while to liquidate that bottomless money pit.I have flown from Austin to Antigua via Miami for less than LIAT charges from Antigua to St.Kitts.
I guess we were lucky again not to have bought Barbados shares. We would have lost everything now. But as I understand it we did put some from the Alba Loan in it. I wonder how much went through the drain.
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