(Trinidad Guardian) The Barbados government says it will pay the three-year-old outstanding severance owed to former employees of LIAT (1974) Limited amounting to BDS$10 million (One BDS dollar=US$0.50 cents).
Prime Minister Mia Mottley told Parliament as she wrapped up the 2023 budget debate that her administration would fully compensate the 89 Barbadians who were impacted when the Antigua-based airline terminated hundreds of its employees from across the region in 2020 without paying severance.
“We want therefore to announce tonight, that the government of Barbados will take responsibility for all of the Barbadian workers and that the government of Barbados will pay up to BDS$75,000 in cash to each and every person in terms of their calculated severance liability and that any number for severance over BDS$75,000 will be paid in bonds.”
The former LIAT workers, including pilots, have been demanding the million of dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) owed in severance and other benefits.
In January, the St. Lucia government made good on its promise to pay compensation to former employees of the cash-strapped regional airline, with Labour Minister Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyotte advising them to use the benefits wisely.
The former local LIAT employees in Castries received bond certificates from the government and are cash redeemable and can also be used as collateral to secure loans
In 2021, the Antigua and Barbuda government offered two million EC dollars to partially satisfy the cash component of the compassionate payout to former LIAT workers here.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, speaking in Parliament informed the union that his administration was no longer prepared to meet bilaterally to discuss the issue and that efforts should be made to include the other shareholder governments of the airline.
The major shareholders of the Antigua-based airline, which entered into administration in July 2020 following increased debt and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
LIAT, prior to entering into administration had been servicing several regional destinations and has since scaled down its operations and is now servicing Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Maarten.
Prime Minister Mottley said that her administration could not have afforded to pay the Barbadian their severance any earlier due to insufficient funds.
She said that when she met with the workers’ representatives two years ago, she informed them that the government could not handle the severance at the time.
“I said to them at that time, I could not deal with the issue of your severance. We were in all kinds of discussions, but above all else, we just did not have the fiscal capacity to do it then, especially in the middle of a pandemic.”
Mottley recalled that in May 2021, as a compassionate gesture, the government agreed to give the Barbadians who did not receive severance, BDS$2,000 as a one-off cash gift and a BDS$2,000 per month advance for one year which was to be repaid at a future date from any severance payment settlement.
Mottley then announced details of the severance, with payment arrangements to be completed by the Director of Finance (Ian Carrington) when he returns to the island next week.
