(Trinidad Guardian) The negotiations between Caribbean Airlines (CAL) and the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots’ Association (TTALPA) have taken a different turn as the Government is now set to intervene in the process.
The news was delivered to TTALPA members during a meeting with CAL’s negotiating team yesterday at 2 pm, which Guardian Media understands lasted just under an hour.
Both parties are negotiating increases for the period 2015–2020.
TTALPA went from a proposal of 0 per cent, 4 per cent, 4 per cent, 4 per cent and 1 per cent for the five-year bargaining period to 0 per cent, 3 per cent, 3 per cent, 3 per cent and 1 per cent. The airline has proposed 0 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 0 per cent, contending that its five per cent lump sum for 2018 to 2019 took into consideration the company’s financial position and the increases that have already been applied.
However, as Guardian Media exclusively reported yesterday, discussions began to fall apart after the state-owned airline proposed to transition pilots across all fleets from a monthly salary system to an hourly system and reduce its work guarantee from 75 to 60 hours. Overtime, it said, would kick in only after 75 hours.
When asked by the media yesterday about the ongoing negotiations, CAL CEO Garvin Medera said he did not want to comment as the company had not officially responded to the union’s counterproposal and discussions were at a sensitive stage.
TTALPA currently represents 200 out of the 217 pilots at CAL.
On Monday morning, the Industrial Court granted CAL an ex-parte injunction to force pilots back on the job after 54 of them reported sick on Sunday, causing over 50 flights to be cancelled and grounding hundreds of passengers.
By Monday night, the union and company had briefly met and its council was advised then by Medera and the Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering, Varma Khillawan, that the negotiations would be “different” moving forward.
After that meeting, the union and CAL were contacted by the Labour Ministry and agreed for Minister Stephen Mc Clashie to hold a conciliatory meeting with both parties.
Shortly after yesterday’s meeting ended, TTALPA updated its members on the involvement of the Minister and what would occur going forward.
“Many of you may have heard the CEO speak at the CAL press conference earlier today (yesterday) and indicated that he was in fact not aware of the details of the proposal made to TTALPA on August 15th by the VP HR (Vice President Human Resources) Roger Berkeley. It was only shared today, that the GoRTT was also not aware of the proposals made to the TTALPA and because of events which took place this weekend, they now have a vested interest and as such, wish to review all the proposals made by the CAL negotiations team to TTALPA,” the union told members.
A meeting is now planned for next Wednesday (August 30).
Acknowledging their disappointment, TTALPA told members it was well aware that they were anticipating a response to their counterproposal, which was delivered to the airline on August 18, 2023.
“We expect that now that the real decision makers are at the table, next week’s meeting will be a meaningful one, and it is our fervent hope that the decision makers come to the table in good faith as we feel severely misled by the current team.”
It then noted to members that the union does not support any breach of Section 67 (2) of the Industrial Relations Act, which prevents essential workers such as pilots from participating in any industrial action, and reminded them of the ex-parte injunction that had been granted.
