NUGFW lauds new air service rates

The situation was one in which a private company had been allowed to set rates and charge fees for air services provided by the government, and subsidised by the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago.

In a statement yesterday, the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) said: "Although it took the Trinidad and Tobago government so long to correct a 55-year-old problem, this union wants to congratulate the Minister of Works and Transport for putting the public house in order."

Works Minister Colm Imbert had said that the "unsuitable arrangement" resulted in the loss of revenue amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars from air navigation charges.

Imbert said at a news conference at Whitehall, new (higher) air navigation rates would be imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority which would now assume the functions of setting and collecting rates.

The president-general of NUGFW, Robert Giuseppi said: "The government and more so Minister Imbert are finally doing something right and in the interest of taxpayers.

"This is a perfect example of why state entities are to be run by public employees and not private contractors, in any field."