A former LIAT pilot is pleading with entertainers in Barbados and the remainder of the region to lift their voices in support of the decision for the airline’s shareholder governments to present ex-workers their severance and other payments outstanding for greater than two years.
The previous worker, who wished to be identified only as Linda, said she wanted regional artistes who depended heavily on the island-hopping carrier to travel across the region, to “jump on board” and support the employees who helped to “maintain them” over time.
“We served them for a few years [as] they travelled the region and encountered our ground staff, flight attendants, pilots, and engineers. We would really like them to leap on board and support our cause,” she appealed.
“I feel that they need to use their voice to try to get a settlement for the workers.”
The pilot who said she gave 19 years of service to the airline, was speaking with members of the media on Tuesday, just outside Parliament where she had just joined other former employees in delivering a petition to Prime Minister Mia Mottley, in care of the Clerk of Parliament.
Her comments also got here on the heels of concern raised by not less than two regional entertainers concerning the hassle of travelling throughout the region now that the restructured LIAT has limited its service.
St Vincent and the Grenadines entertainer Skinny Fabulous, in an open letter to LIAT that he shared on his Instagram page last Wednesday, publicly apologised to the airline for taking its service with no consideration.
“We bullied you and called you names . . . . We were mean and unappreciative for we knew not what the longer term held for us . . . If nobody else is humble enough to say it, I’m saying it now. I used to be ungrateful and I’m sorry,” wrote the soca artiste whose given name is Gamal Doyle.
He added that although people within the region often complained concerning the airline’s schedule, there have been days now they were unable to get to certain islands.
Doyle said he missed having the ability to get to St Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St Kitts, and other places “with multiple options and at reasonable cost”.
The musician pleaded for a return to LIAT’s previous schedule, adding that the region not only missed the Antigua-based airline but needed it.
Barbadian international recording artiste and producer Adam King Bubba Elias has also been raising concerns concerning the difficulty and value of travelling across the Caribbean without LIAT’s usual service.
Linda said views like those expressed by the 2 entertainers should give Barbados and other LIAT shareholder governments an appreciation for the previous employees who’re still awaiting severance pay.
LIAT was restructured in mid-2020, at which era tons of of employees were laid off.
The previous employees are still fighting for not only severance payments but other compensation as well, including vacation pay, notice pay, final salary, and pension payments. [email protected]
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