Prime Minister Gaston Browne is making a new proposal to deal constructively
with the outstanding severance issue affecting hundreds of LIAT (1974) Ltd.
employees throughout the Caribbean.
PM Minister plans to pen a letter to all shareholder governments of the former
airline to forego payments following the sale of the three aircraft held by the
Caribbean Development Bank and make that money available to LIAT staff as part
of the outstanding payments.
The Antigua and Barbuda government has placed US$12.1 million into an escrow
account at the Caribbean Development Bank to purchase three ATR aircraft for the
new airline, LIAT 2020.
The prime minister said this proposal comes out of his government’s longstanding
commitment to make good on its promise to work towards getting the former LIAT
(1974) Ltd. staff paid their severance.
“We have always said as a government that we will pay the 32% representing our
shareholding in LIAT (1974) Ltd. We have never refused to pay the 32%! We said
that all of the shareholding governments should pay; that Barbados should pay
based on its shareholding; that St. Vincent and the Grenadines should pay based on
that formula and Dominica similarly. We owned 32% so we should pay that
amount. At one point we even said we would pay 50%, but we said that was
because we wanted the workers to use that to negotiate with the other governments
to pay. It was the union, the ABWU, that stood in the way of this happening,” the
prime minister explained.
Despite all this, the Antigua and Barbuda leader said the government is still
committed to paying its share of the severance to the former workers of the now
defunct airline.
“That offer is still on the table and my government will not revoke it. As soon as
they worker indicate that they are willing to accept, the money will be paid,” he
reiterated.
Now, he is proposing that the US$12.1 million dollars which the Antigua and
Barbuda government will pay to the CDB for the three aircraft it is holding based
on a lien for the loan it granted to purchase the planes, that this money should be
made available to workers, instead of going to the shareholder governments. and
the bank.
“I am going to write a letter, first thing Monday morning (today) to my colleague
Heads (of Government) calling on all four shareholder-governments to subordinate
our interests from the sale of the aircraft, the US$12.1 million, and to make those
funds available to pay severance to LIAT workers system-wide as an ex-gratia
payment in lieu of severance,” he declared. He is also calling on the CDB to act
similarly in this regard.
According to PM Browne, it is a view that he has always held, but one which he is
now stating publicly for the first time. He added that he believes that this is a fair
proposal aimed at bringing some relief to the many LIAT workers scattered across
the Caribbean.
Additionally, PM Browne said whilst he was not in office when the re-fleeting of
LIAT (1974) Ltd. was being undertaken, he disagrees with the CDB for taking
liens on the aircraft as the loans were sovereign loans, guaranteed by the respective
governments.
“The loans that were issued to the four shareholder governments were sovereign
loans and there was absolutely no need for the CDB to take any lien over those
aircraft. In fact, what they did by taking that lien, was to prejudice the interests of
other stakeholders, while protecting the bank’s interests. If there wasn’t that lien,
then the staff would have had priority when the aircraft are sold,” he noted.
By taking the lien, the prime minister feels that even the CDB has done the former
LIAT (1974) Ltd. staff a disservice.
