CAL, pilots tit for tat

According to documents obtained by Newsday, TTALPA yesterday issued a letter to its members countering claims made by CAL’s Vice-President of Operations, Captain Jagmohan Singh, in a memo issued to pilots on April 2, and by CEO, Michael DiLollo in a media release issued that same day.

“TTALPA notes with grave concern the contents of the April 2 Memorandum (and) the Media Release from the CEO’s Office. There either exists on the part of senior management, an acute misunderstanding of the local collective bargaining process or this is a deliberate attempt to place the blame squarely on your association for this unacceptable state of affairs,” TTALPA stated.

Singh’s memo said while CAL has been focused on “attaining resolution”, providing its response to TTALPA’s proposals at a meeting on November 11, 2014, the union took “almost four months” to provide its counter-proposal, something which CAL claimed TTALPA had promised to do within two weeks of receiving the airline’s response.

CAL’s VP of Operations denied a walk-out by TTALPA during a conciliation meeting at the Labour Ministry on March 31, as reported in the article “Pilots walk out on CAL meeting” which was published in Newsday on April 1.

Singh then seemed to appeal to pilots not to consider any form of industrial action, stating in the memo, “Any disruption to our service will affect the company’s risk profile...Caribbean Airlines depends for survival on the loyalty of our customers and their firm belief in the commitment of our staff to a safe and reliable service.”

Singh added that anything which undermines public confidence in CAL, particularly “in these times of alarming aviation events worldwide,” could only serve to have a negative impact on the airline’s customer base and consequently, its revenues.

He went on to announce that variable incentive pay (VIP) owed to pilots for the first quarter (Q1) of 2014 was in the process of being finalised.

“While Caribbean Airlines is mindful of its responsibility to the pilot body (incidentally, we are working on the finalisation of payment of Individual VIP, 2014 - Q1 within one month), we are also committed to safeguarding the welfare of the human resource of the entire operation,” Singh informed pilots on Friday.

TTALPA was then criticised by Singh for what he claimed was the union’s tactic of involving the media “at each level of disagreement is, in our view, counter-productive and moreover, has the potential to be damaging to the reputation of (CAL).”

DiLollo meanwhile said, although the airline took note of “operational questions posed by TTALPA, it requested that the focus remain on achieving agreement in the collective bargaining...Caribbean Airlines is still awaiting TTALPA’s response.”

In its letter to members, TTALPA said Singh’s VIP announcement in the memo was “truly disrespectful” to the union because he knew the matter had been taken to the Labour Ministry by TTALPA for resolution. In addition, the union has yet to be officially informed of this development.

Regarding Singh’s claim that TTALPA has been “airing dirty laundry” in the media, the union yesterday told members it has “refrained from conducting our negotiations with CAL in the media.”

“Despite the allegations by Captain Singh to the contrary, we have responded from time to time to requests from the media for information on the status of these long standing negotiations. We would have nothing to report with “the potential to be damaging to the reputation of the Airline” if CAL did not make it so,” TTALPA declared.

The union rejected assurances by CAL and DiLollo that it is “committed to good faith negotiations”, saying “nothing could be further from the truth.”

TTALPA then cited an example of this, saying “Unilateral engagement by the Company of Pilots on fixed-term contracts flies in the face of such recognised majority union status and is tantamount to ‘union busting’.”

TTALPA maintained that CAL does not have the authority to bypass its recognized majority union and enter into private negotiations with individual prospective Pilots and to unilaterally determine their terms and conditions of employment.

“Such improper actions on the part of an employer, in our view, constitute grounds for the application to the Industrial Court for an Industrial Relations Order against CAL and we are at present considering such an application,” TTALPA stated.