Caribbean Airlines pilots staged a protest at Piarco International Airport yesterday, calling on Government to settle outstanding wages.
Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots’ Association (TTALPA) president Jason Wickham said the union had agreed to the Government’s four per cent wage offer and submitted its agreement to the Chief Personnel Officer, but they are yet to receive a response.
“In the spirit of good faith and our commitment to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and to Caribbean Airlines, we have requested a four per cent salary increase, which aligns with the Government’s mandate sent to the CPO, a benefit that other trade unions are also receiving,” Wickham said.
“For the last nine years, TTALPA has been negotiating in good faith with the management of Caribbean Airlines. Today, the pilots have come out to express their dissatisfaction and displeasure with the current situation. Our international counterparts are receiving double-digit salary increases.”
From as early as 7 am yesterday, the pilots started their silent protest by walking through the main departure hall bearing placards. They then gathered outside the airport entrance, urging the Government to settle unpaid wages and increments owed to them.
Wickham assured the protest was organised in a way that did not impact travellers entering or leaving the country.
“No, there’ll be no flights affected, and TTALPA supports the flights departing on time,” Wickham said.
“The pilots are here today in a peaceful, silent picket to express our displeasure at the fact that our collective agreement has expired for nine years. We are imploring the Government and the line minister to step in and approve the four per cent salary proposal that was given to the management of Caribbean Airlines since July of this year. That’s why we’re here today.”
No flights were disrupted as a result of their action, as all participating pilots were off duty.
TTALPA has faced unresolved collective agreements dating back to 2015. This was exacerbated by the pandemic, given that the country’s borders were closed and all staff, including pilots, were forced to take pay cuts to preserve their jobs.
Wickham said they were aligned with Government’s proposal and hopes good sense will prevail in resolving the issue swiftly.
He added, “As far as we are aware, we haven’t received any communication from the authorities responsible for the negotiations. We haven’t heard anything from the Government. That is why we are here today, asking the line minister to please step in and help settle our outstanding nine-year collective agreement.”
In a statement yesterday, CAL assured the public that all flights and operations were continuing as scheduled despite the TTALPA protest.
It noted that pilots have also received their annual increments of up to three per cent, so the protest was “both unexpected and disappointing.”
Efforts to contact Minister of Finance Colm Imbert, CAL’s line minister, for comment proved futile.
Longstanding issues
Since August 8, CAL has submitted a proposal to Finance Minister Imbert to settle outstanding negotiations with TTALPA.
In July, TTALPA revised its proposed settlement for the period 2015-2020 to a four per cent increase, in line with other settled union negotiations in the public sector.
Following that, this settlement was sent to Imbert by the CAL board to either accept or reject it.
Guardian Media understands that despite a follow-up reminder in September and even one up to yesterday, Imbert has not yet responded to the CAL board on the proposed settlement.
However, despite outstanding settlements being owed to the pilots for the negotiating period, the agreement guarantees them a three per cent increase every year. As such, CAL pilots received salary increases of about 16 per cent for the period 2017 to 2022.
TTALPA’s agreement of a four per cent increase is less than what CAL had offered the pilots before their sick-out action.
Guardian Media had reported that the airline’s offer was a seven and half per cent pay increase—0 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 0 per cent—for the period 2015-2020, coupled with a shift from a monthly to an hourly payment system, which was resisted by the pilots.
In turn, TTALPA counter-proposed 0 per cent, 4 per cent, 4 per cent, 4 per cent and 1 per cent for the bargaining period. TTALPA then made a reduced counteroffer of 0 per cent, 3 per cent, 3 per cent, 3 per cent and 1 per cent to CAL.
Following a breakdown in negotiations last year, 93 CAL pilots called in sick over the period August 18-20, which caused which caused 60 flights to be cancelled and cost the company an estimated $15 million.
CAL was granted an injunction on August 21 by the court and TTALPA was instructed to direct workers/employees to immediately report to duty despite the union’s claim that no industrial action took place.