Finance Minister Colm Imbert says he offered to settle the wage negotiation impasse between Caribbean Airlines and pilots to put an end to misinformation floating around.
Speaking during a virtual news conference yesterday to address concerns about the country’s supply of foreign exchange, Imbert acknowledged the resolution of the first dispute for the period 2015 to 2020. He said he was pleased to put an end to the issues raised by the pilots.
But he also addressed concerns about the misinformation that had surrounded the negotiations and strained the collective agreements.
“There was a lot of toing and froing, and in fact, there was something floating around that had absolutely nothing to do with me, but one of my challenges is that everyone said ‘it is him’,” Minister Imbert explained.
“There was something floating around where someone had offered or mentioned to the pilots that for some of the years after 2020, they would receive a zero per cent increase. I did not agree with that. Although I was being blamed unfairly for it, without my knowledge, I didn’t even know this was going on.”
To resolve the issue, the Finance Minister said the decision was made to settle the first period and offer a four per cent increase for the 2022-2023 period as well.
“I was really happy I was able to get that out of the way because there was so much misinformation and scapegoating as always happens where I am concerned, unfortunately,” he added.
Caribbean Airlines pilots represented by their union The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association raised concerns several times about the status of wage negotiations, which they said had been unresolved since 2015.
The pilots held placards and walked through the Piarco International Airport to highlight their issues. They also picketed outside the office of the Finance Minister on Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.
—Otto Carrington
