LIAT makes appeal as pilots threaten strike action

ST JOHN'S, Antigua, November 25, 2009 - LIAT has denied stalling an arbitration process with pilots and says it's disappointed at threats by the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) to take industrial action if a collective bargaining agreement is not completed by next month.

LIALPA Chairman Michael Blackburn was reported as telling the Nation newspaper in Barbados that the pilots have had enough of waiting and are prepared to completely withdraw their services if no deal is reached on December 1st.

He said while LIAT has increased the salaries of managers and its chief executive officer and had spent thousands on legal fees, it was unwilling to increase pilots' pay.

"The shareholders of LIAT have mandated the company to settle with the pilots by way of arbitration, but they simply don't want to pay. The stalling and delaying has been too much to take," Blackburn said on Monday.

But in a release issued yesterday, management of the Antigua-based airline insisted, "that no attempt has been made to derail or slow down the process of arbitration agreed upon with LIALPA" and that LIAT had, in fact, "taken extra efforts to facilitate the arbitration process".