The federal government has reiterated its supply of a 32 p.c severance fee to former workers of LIAT, following years of stalled negotiations.
The proposal, initially put ahead by the federal government after the autumn of LIAT 1974, was rejected by the Antigua and Barbuda Employees’ Union (ABWU), which continues to demand full severance compensation for the displaced staff.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, talking on the sidelines of this week’s launch of LIAT 2020, acknowledged that the federal government is ready to cowl as much as 32 p.c of the severance funds, which aligns with the nation’s shareholding within the defunct airline.
He emphasised that, though the federal government will not be legally obligated to compensate the employees, it’s now taking steps to supply the severance on to the affected workers, bypassing additional negotiations with the union.
“We had needed to do that not less than three and a half years in the past however, sadly, we now have not had the cooperation of the Antigua and Barbuda Employees’ Union and we now have now taken the choice that we’ll go on to employees.
“At this level we’re not ready to argue with anybody so it doesn’t matter what the Antigua and Barbuda Employees’ Union has to say,” he defined.
Prime Minister Browne additionally introduced that the federal government plans to allocate as much as EC$10 million by the top of the yr to start the primary spherical of severance funds to the previous LIAT employees. He urged the employees to noticeably think about accepting the supply, noting that doing so wouldn’t stop them from searching for extra compensation from different shareholder governments.
Moreover, Browne referred to as on different shareholder governments of LIAT 1974 Ltd to fulfil their obligations to all staff, not simply their very own residents.
“Barbados itself is a far wealthier nation than Antigua and Barbuda. I hope that they are going to see the necessity to observe our lead and to make extra sums accessible to employees of LIAT system-wide, not solely the Barbadian staff,” Browne stated.
He added that every one shareholding governments ought to make some type of fee accessible in relation to the share that they held in LIAT 1974 earlier than its collapse.
In the meantime, the ABWU maintains that 100% severance is the one acceptable settlement for the previous staff.
The ABWU stated in 2023 that the choice of the Barbados authorities to concede to the employees’ declare for 100% severance validates the employees’ and unions’ stance that full severance is the one cheap settlement.
Nonetheless, regardless of this clear precedent set by the Mottley administration, the union claims the federal government of Antigua and Barbuda has disgracefully decreased its so-called “compassionate” supply from its authentic 50 p.c supply to 32 p.c, with a looming menace to utterly withdraw any type of settlement if ex-employees don’t settle for it.
