There would have been a “bloodbath” if Antigua hadn’t stepped in to save LIAT – Seaforth

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Cleveland-Seaforth

(Antigua News Room)-The appointed Administrator of LIAT, Cleveland Seaforth said many would have suffered great losses if LIAT had gone the route of liquidation.

Seaforth is working to restructure the regional carrier.

“The alternative, LIAT would have been gone, there would have been liquidation process, which would have been a bloodbath for everyone, okay, and at the end of the day, there would have been no LIAT. This presents an opportunity for us to work together and try and find a solution and for that I think we need to recognize the efforts to the government of Antigua & Barbuda.”, Seaforth told state media.

The Administrator, who recently announced he had 120 days to get the job done, will be asking regional governments to write off debts owed by LIAT.

“Based on informal discussions with the government of Antigua, there has been an indication that they are likely to writeoff what is owed but every member within the CARICOM area would be asked to forgive the amounts owing to them. What their response is, I cannot say”, Seaforth revealed.

The administrator conducted several recent meeting with stakeholders including Unions representing the airline workers.

He said he is now in the process of paying LIAT workers their July salaries.

“May has not been paid, June has not been paid. The Prime Minister of Antigua had made an arrangement with some of the heads within the CARICOM area to pay a part of the salaries for July. The government of Antigua has delivered on the promise and have transferred the funds to pay the salaries for July so the government of Antigua is paying the salaries. Those funds have been provided to us and we are actually in the process now of trying to disburse those funds”, he said.

“I think it’s a very commendable effort on the part of the government, not only does it indicate the importance of LIAT to Antigua & Barbuda but also to the region and I think it is the recognition of the need to have a regional airline such as LIAT continue to fly”, Seaforth added.

The government of Grenada reportedly indicated it would pay May and June salaries for Grenada-based LIAT employees.

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22 COMMENTS

    • @Antiguan

      Antigua has 700 plus workers
      St Vincent has 23
      St Lucia 30 plus

      See the problem yet LOL….the regional governments would be happy to pay their local workers that would be a no brainer.

    • Actually no it does not make sense. The fact that the majority of workers are Antiguan does not make it fair for the A&B government to be responsible for paying them. LIAT is a REGIONAL airline, with a regional board and CEO and some regional management staff making decisions which affected it to the point it has reached. Yhe majority of A&B staff were line staff, engineers etc simply doing their (daily) jobs. A regional approach is required – otherwise it would simply be unfair to A&B.

      • Agree! The salaried should be paid base on the amount of shares a region owned.
        But they are not paying up. There should be a law suite by the union suing the shareholders for the salary of its members. Barbados is no in IMF’s pocket so there are probably told to quit LIAT.

    • Each shareholder should be responsible to the ratio of their share capital. That is how the profits if there were any would have been shared, so that is how the losses and liabilities should be shared

  1. What about the ticket holders nothing is being said about money’s being repaid to them over 11 million were collected i want my money back from LIAT as for my concern LIAT
    is over finish KAPUT even if it rises from the ashes like the Phoenix and I’m not repaid my money I won’t be flying LIAT.

    • Nobody cares….. fool… can tbe airline put what it dont have? Some y’all give your money to obeah man and never get a result but that ain’t a problem…. that Administrator ask that all the creditors to make an application along with the proof before August 15th…. did you follow that instruction…i bet no

      • Go and take a flipping leap off a building jackass it’s 11 million dollars and Liat knows every ticket holder it owe money’s too it’s in they system online well lots of us don’t know nothing about obeah man but it seems you do putain d’idiot.

  2. Hon. Gaston Browne You are a GENIUS. Thank God for your BRILLIANCY. Only You could have done this …All the Others did not have a CLUE. LIAT will be SOARING soon. bLESSINGS

    • I second that. Sometimes I really want to doubt him because even I don’t see the wisdom of things sometimes. Like how he is still supporting Barbuda after they try hard to undo every thing that is trying to do for them. I would have just washed my hands and leave them to their own misery. Until the day they will come crawling back to me. Cause that day will come.

  3. I guess now the Browne haters will accuse my friend Cleaveland of being a Labour Party supporter, since he praises the government for heir effort in trying to safe LIAT thus far and preventing as he called it a Blood Bath. Yes one can only give it to our visionary PM to have taking this bold step without the backing of the other main shareholders, only Dominica supported him. But the process has just begun and their will be many hurdles to cross. These people have an agenda and it is backed by the IMF if you ask me. Whenever a country is in the arms of the IMF they seem to make strange and illogical decisions.
    LIAT will survive and fly again. And as the PM said, everyone will have to take a haircut. The employees also. And the union better do not lead them astray, cause in liquidation they will lose even more.

  4. Incorrect noun(bloodbath) used to described the LIAT matter.I always thought a bloodbath was like a massacre.Where many persons were killed.Some people like to over exaggerate and play with words.So when are the Pensioners of Social Security getting paid.There are persons in Antigua at ECAB.Who have not been paid their pensions for July,2020 as of today August 22,2020.That same thing happened last month.They were paid in the middle of July for June.It is so freaking wrong.

    From The Sidelines: Have you ever heard the expression: NUFF AND EDGE UP.That is you.Everyone in Antigua with an ounce of status is your friend.Gaston Browne,Cleaveland Seaforth,Cutie Benjamin,Gerry Watt.Unlike you,my friends picks up the garbage.A very important function.Get off your high horse.Before you are thrown.

    • I keep saying this you guys have only personal attacks as a respond to my comments. Never ever have you guys come back with substance for a debate. What the heck do you know who my friends are. The most I tol you about me is that I’m a Rotarian and live by the creed “Service above self”. And I’m not a Rotarian from just yesterday but over thirty years. But that aside.
      Social Security maybe late in this trying Covid times with so many people laid off and the government challenged to pay even their basic bills. So the fact that they are paid is already commendable. Unlike when the UPP was faced with some economic struggle the pensioners had to sometimes wait more than a month to get paid and some had to line up early in the morning to see if they would get paid. Some businesses don’t even know if they are going to make it. The last person they pay are the statutory bodies. Because they just do not have the cash flow. So what do you expect with this drop of revenue on all fronts of our economy. Somethings just have to give. And the longer Covid stays with us the worst it will get. We do not print money like the USA and some other wealthy countries. If we did we would have the largest inflation in the world. A loaf of bread may cost us $1000.00. So far we are doing a great job keeping things afloat. But people like you think you can use this situation to sow your division and bitterness. Just look back to the period 2009-2014 and you will see how we suffered. So much that we had no choice but to embrace the IMF . And even though they pumped over $300 million into our economy things didn’t improve for us. This government is dealing with a world crisis of tremendous proportion never seen before. And yet steering the ship of state through all of this. Fifth Pier is getting completed, the Harbour is getting rebuild, housing projects are continuing, entrepreneurs are getting soft loans, farmers are getting more water and land. You just name it. I would say this government is multi-tasking ‘walk and chew gum’. Try living with a sudden cut in your income of 60%.

    • Bugsy your correct a very strong word to be used by the administrator this is the meaning of the word bloodbath an event or situation in which many people are killed in a violent manner so what is the administrator implying that if liat is liquidated there is going to be bloody Revolution in Antigua and Barbuda ??

  5. Just heard on the news.More LIAT staffs to be laid off in coming weeks.Poor LIAT workers.When would it end? I thought LIAT was supposed to be back in the air within 90 DAYS.That was Gaston Browne’s dribble.

    • @ BLACK MAN
      Why the HELL you DON’T leave Hon.Gaston Browne alone. ? Can’t you see that you are losing the battle ? You are the BIGGEST AS%%%% in town.

    • “Prime Minister of Antigua Gaston Browne is predicting “significant staff cuts” in a new reorganisational plan the country says will bring about a far leaner LIAT, one that will run exclusively on commercial terms and one that is expected to make a profit…. and we are hoping that LIAT could be back in the air within 60 to 90 day” see Jamaica Observer, Significant’ staff cuts coming for LIAT. Tuesday, July 21, 2020

      Not sure if you noticed the word “could” and recognize that no more than 30 days has passed and we were told ahead of time re the job cuts

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